Vitamin A-deficient mice are more susceptible to Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia Coli infection

CABRERA GABRIEL; ROMINA J. FERNANDEZ-BRANDO; BASCHKIER, ARIELA; MILIWEBSKY, ELIZABETH; MARÍA PILAR MEJÍAS; ABREY RECALDE, MARÍA JIMENA; RIVAS, MARTA; MARINA S. PALERMO

Lima

Congreso; 10th Latin American Congress of Immunology; 2012

ALAI

Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a food-borne pathogen that can cause the life-threatening haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Since vitamin A (VA) influence the homeostasis of the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, the aim of this work was to develop a mouse model to study the influence of VA during STEC infection. To generate the VA deficiency, pregnant females and their litters were fed a VA-deficient diet. We confirmed by ELISA that the level of retinol-binding protein 4, which is a surrogate marker of VA status, decreased progressively from week 8 to 12 in VA-deficient (VA-D) mice. Mice fed a VA-sufficient diet (control) and VA-D mice were orally inoculated with 2,1-2,8x1011 CFU of STEC O157:H7/Kg weight. VA-D mice showed a decreased percentage of survivors: (A) Control non-infected (STEC-) mice: 100%, n=3; (B) Control infected (STEC+) mice: 100%, n=12; (C) VA-D STEC- mice: 100%, n=3; (D) VA-D STEC+ mice: 64%, n=14; p