Research Techniques Made Simple: Mouse Bacterial Skin Infection Models for Immunity Research

Abstract

Bacterial skin infections are a major societal health burden and are increasingly difficult to treat owing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains such as community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Understanding the immunologic mechanisms that provide durable protection against skin infections has the potential to guide the development of immunotherapies and vaccines to engage the host immune response to combat these antibiotic-resistant strains. To this end, mouse skin infection models allow researchers to examine host immunity by investigating the timing, inoculum, route of infection and the causative bacterial species in different wild-type mouse backgrounds as well as in knockout, transgenic, and other types of genetically engineered mouse strains. To recapitulate the various types of human skin infections, many different mouse models have been developed. For example, four models frequently used in dermatological research are based on the route of infection, including (i) subcutaneous infection models, (ii) intradermal infection models, (iii) wound infection models, and (iv) epicutaneous infection models. In this article, we will describe these skin infection models in detail along with their advantages and limitations. In addition, we will discuss how humanized mouse models such as the human skin xenograft on immunocompromised mice might be used in bacterial skin infection research.

Use of mouse primary epidermal organoids for USA300 infection modeling and drug screening

“…Bacterial skin infections are a major societal health burden and are increasingly difficult to treat owing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains such as community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus [ 20 ]. The scientific community has established several in vitro models for skin infections that help us understand the pathophysiology of the disease and develop therapeutic strategies, represented by classic reconstructed epidermis using the ALI method.…”

Toward Optimization of a Rabbit Model of Staphylococcus aureus (USA300) Skin and Soft Tissue Infection

“…Indeed, there is significant variance in the inoculum needed even among different rabbit S. aureus lineages, likely a reflection of strain-dependent interactions with the host immune system ( 36 ). The site of inoculation also plays a crucial role in the initial recognition and host immune response to infection, and our use of s.c. (versus intradermal) inoculation could have contributed to differences in rabbit inocula in these studies ( 37 , 38 ). This all said, the USA300 inoculum needed was reduced significantly by the rabbit tropism conferred by SNPs, and we used this lower-inoculum infection model to evaluate development of protection against severe disease in an infection/reinfection study.…”

Use of mouse primary epidermal organoids for USA300 infection modeling and drug screening

“…Bacterial skin infections are a major societal health burden and are increasingly di cult to treat owing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains such as community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 24 . The scienti c community has established several in vitro models for skin infections that help us understand the pathophysiology of the disease and develop therapeutic strategies, represented by classic reconstructed epidermis using the ALI method.…”