Local and humoral immune responses against primary and repeat Neisseria gonorrhoeae genital tract infections of 17β-estradiol-treated mice

Abstract

The 17β-estradiol-treated mouse model is the only small animal model of gonococcal genital tract infection. Here we show gonococci localized within vaginal and cervical tissue, including the lamina propria, and high numbers of neutrophils and macrophages in genital tissue from infected mice. Infection did not induce a substantial or sustained increase in total or gonococcal-specific antibodies. Mice could be reinfected with the same strain and repeat infection did not boost the antibody response. However, intravaginal immunization of estradiol-treated mice induced gonococcal-specific primary and secondary serum antibody responses. We conclude that similar to human infection, experimental murine infection induces local inflammation but not an acquired immune response or immunological memory.

Protocols for Vaginal Inoculation and Sample Collection in the Experimental Mouse Model of <em>Candida</em> vaginitis

“…In addition to subcutaneous injection of estradiol in sesame oil suspension, injection of water-soluble estradiol in PBS and intradermal implantation of a controlled-release estradiol pellet are alternative methods for estrogen administration and have been employed in other mouse models of female genital tract infections 10,35 . Requirement of high estrogen in this model may be explained by two physiological factors.…”

“…In addition to C. albicans-induced vaginitis, infections by other pathogens of the female lower genital tract, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis and Herpes simplex virus have been studied using mouse models where the organisms are intravaginally introduced in hormone-treated mice 1,7,10,22,26,35,38 . Therefore, the techniques that are useful for studies involving Candida vaginitis can be applied to and potentially advance methodologies to study pathogenesis and host immune responses for other infectious diseases of the female lower genital tract.…”

A novel cold atmospheric pressure air plasma jet for peri-implantitis treatment: An <i>in vitro</i> study

“…Subsequently, bacterial concentrations were adjusted to 0.5 McFarland turbidity standards (equivalent to 1.5×10 8 colony forming units/mL) to perform the experiments described below. The cultivation of Porphyromonas gingival has been described in detail elsewhere 35,36) .…”

Mucosal Immunity and Evasion Strategies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

“…The hallmark of humoral immune response against N. gonorrhoeae is the extremely low levels of anti-gonococcal antibodies found in serum and secretions of the human (male and female) during infection (Hedges et al, 1999;Hedges et al, 1998), indicating that humoral immunity against gonococcus is highly limited (Hedges et al, 1999;Song et al, 2008). Antigenic heterogeneity is a major consideration for humoral immunity in gonococcal infection studies.…”

“…Increased of neutrophils and macrophage in site of infection (Song et al, 2008) N. gonorrhoeae mice infection IgG>IgA>IgM in vaginal fluid (Song et al, 2008) Whole-protein extractes of N. gonorrhoeae P9-17 Low titers of IgG in serum (Imarai et al, 2008) N. gonorrhoeae Th17 profile immune response and increased IL-17 (Feinen et al, 2010) IgA1 protease Th1 pro-inflammatory profile with increased IFN and TNF (Tsirpouchtsidis et al, 2002) IgA1 protease IL-1 , IL-6, TNF and IL-8 (Lorenzen et al, 1999) Porin Th2 Similarly, in the murine model of infection, no antibody induced response has been detected. In Balb/c mice, N. gonorrhoeae is able to reach the upper genital organs and to invade uterine tissue, as it occurs in humans (Imarai et al, 2008;Jerse, 1999).…”