Bordetella pertussis Respiratory Tract Infection in the Mouse: Pathophysiological Responses

Abstract

The influence of living Bordetella pertussis on the induction and duration of pathophysiological reactions in mice infected intranasally with graded doses of culture was studied. Lethally infected mice showed loss of body weight, spleen atrophy, pronounced hypothermia and hypoglycemia, and highly elevated levels of leukocytes and serum immunoreactive insulin. Sublethally infected mice showed normal weight gain, practically normal temperature, spleen enlargement, lesser pronounced hypoglycemia, lower but significantly elevated levels of leukocytes and serum immunoreactive insulin, and histamine sensitization. Intensity of each reaction was related to the degree of lung infectivity. Hypothermia and leukocytosis were highly correlated. Concentration of serum immunoreactive insulin was closely related to the level of leukocytosis but not to the level of glucose. The strain and age of mice significantly affected the degree and duration of the reactions. The results suggest that the intranasally infected mouse may provide a useful model for investigations on whooping cough.

Slight hyperinsulinaemia but no hypoglycaemia in pertussis patients

“…This is in contrast to the results of our studies in B. pertussis-infected mice which have shown consistently both hyperinsulinaemia and hypoglycaemia (Pittman et al, 1980;Furman et al, 1981Furman et al, , 1986). We do not know if the hyperinsulinaemia in patients with pertussis is mediated via the same mechanisms as those in mice.…”

Cough production, leucocytosis and serology of rats infected intrabronchially with Bordetella pertussis

“…1 B). Control rats showed only a fairly constant and low level of coughing throughout each experiment and each paroxysm usually contained fewer individual coughs (c. [3][4][5] than in the infected animals (c. 5-10 or more [20-501 during the peak period). There was more coughing when the BP-sus was administered intranasally, with a moderate peak between days 9 and 14.…”

Pertussis Toxin Plays an Early Role in Respiratory Tract Colonization byBordetella pertussis

“…In the absence of a human challenge model of B. pertussis infection, studies of respiratory tract colonization and disease caused by B. pertussis have been limited to animal models, of which the most well established and frequently used is the mouse intranasal inoculation model. In this model, although overt symptomatic disease is not elicited, several characteristics of the human infection are reproduced, such as multiplication and clearance of the bacteria, limitation of infection to the respiratory tract, increased severity of infection in young animals, and various systemic physiological changes (8,25,29,37). Recent studies have shown that this may also be a useful model for the preclinical assessment of acellular pertussis vaccine efficacy (6, 19).…”