title: Foetal Ureaplasma parvum bacteraemia as a function of gestation-dependent complement insufficiency: Evidence from a sheep model of pregnancy.
abstract: Complement is a central defence against sepsis, and increasing complement insufficiency in neonates of greater prematurity may predispose to increased sepsis. Ureaplasma spp. are the most frequently cultured bacteria from preterm blood samples.
  
  
  
  A sheep model of intrauterine Ureaplasma parvum infection was used to examine in vivo Ureaplasma bacteraemia at early and late gestational ages. Complement function and Ureaplasma killing assays were used to determine the correlation between complement potency and bactericidal activity of sera ex vivo.
  
  
  
  Ureaplasma was cultured from 50% of 95-day gestation lamb cord blood samples compared to 10% of 125-day gestation lambs. Bactericidal activity increased with increased gestational age, and a direct correlation between functional complement activity and bactericidal activity (R2=.86; P<.001) was found for 95-day gestational lambs.
  
  
  
  Ureaplasma bacteraemia in vivo was confined to early preterm lambs with low complement function, but Ureaplasma infection itself did not diminish complement levels.
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.affiliation: All Wales Antibiotic Resistance Engagement (AWARE) Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK.|Department of Pathology, Nineveh College of Medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq.
authors.forename: Shatha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Cardiff School of Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Beeton
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Usuda
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Suhas G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kallapur
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Boris W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Alan H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Jobe
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Newnham
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.|All Wales Antibiotic Resistance Engagement (AWARE) Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Owen B
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9117-6911
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Spiller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016470:Bacteremia; D001433:Bacteriolysis; D002417:Cattle; D003167:Complement Activation; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000276:immunology*; D012756:Sheep; D014509:Ureaplasma / Q000276:immunology*; D016869:Ureaplasma Infections / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D003165:Complement System Proteins
keywords: 
  Ureaplasma
  ; complement; neonatal; preterm; sepsis