Characterizing Salmonella Typhimurium-induced Septic Peritonitis in Mice
Summary
This protocol describes the induction of Gram-negative monobacterial sepsis in a mouse model system. The model is useful in investigating the inflammatory and lethal host responses during sepsis.
Abstract
Sepsis is a dysregulated host immune response to microbial invasion or tissue damage, leading to organ injury at a site distant from that of the infection or damage. Currently, the widely used mice models of sepsis include lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and monobacterial infection model systems. This protocol describes a method to study the host responses during Salmonella Typhimurium infection-induced septic peritonitis in mice. S. Typhimurium, a Gram-negative intracellular pathogen, causes typhoid-like disease in mice.
This protocol elaborates the culture preparation, induction of septic peritonitis in mice through intraperitoneal injection, and methods to study systemic host responses. Furthermore, the assessment of bacterial burden in different organs and the flow cytometric analysis of increased neutrophil numbers in the peritoneal lavage is presented. Salmonella Typhimurium-induced sepsis in mice leads to an increase in proinflammatory cytokines and rapid infiltration of neutrophils in the peritoneal cavity, leading to lower survival.
Every step in this protocol has been optimized, resulting in high reproducibility of the pathogenesis of septic peritonitis. This model is useful for studying immunological responses during bacterial sepsis, the roles of different genes in disease progression, and the effects of drugs to attenuate sepsis.
Introduction
Sepsis is defined as a dysregulated systemic inflammatory and immune response to microbial invasion or tissue damage, leading to organ injury distant from the site of infection or damage. Septic shock is a subset of sepsis characterized by hypotension persisting during volume resuscitation, with a substantially increased risk of mortality1. The general public has become more aware of this disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its high associated mortality, comprehensive epidemiological data on the global burden of sepsis is lacking because of the complexity of its diagnosis. In 2017, there were 48.9 million sepsis incidences and 11 million deaths worldwide, accounting for 19.7% of all global deaths2. Further, a study on the extended prevalence of infection and related sepsis in intensive care unit patients found that 62% of the positive isolates from patients were Gram-negative organisms3.
Initially, the investigations on sepsis focused on delineating microbial pathogenesis. However, understanding the "danger hypothesis", which dictates how the host distinguishes self and non-self, led to the tilting of the balance of sepsis research toward understanding the host response to an invading pathogen. The widely used mice models of sepsis include the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia model, polymicrobial sepsis models, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and colon ascendens stent peritonitis (CASP), and monobacterial infection models4.
We have standardized a mouse model system by inducing peritoneal sepsis using Salmonella Typhimurium. This model is advantageous over others because Salmonella Typhimurium is an intracellular pathogen that mimics the clinically relevant condition of Gram-negative sepsis. The outcome of peritonitis sepsis in this model is systemic, with 100% mortality within 96 h post infection. Therefore, this model is instrumental in studying the inflammatory and lethal host responses. In this model, sepsis is induced by intraperitoneally injecting 0.5 million colony-forming units (CFU) of Salmonella Typhimurium into an 8-10-week-old C57BL/6 mouse. Systemic infection can be confirmed by assessing organ bacterial burden ~16 h post infection. This article demonstrates Salmonella Typhimurium-induced peritonitis sepsis in mice, characterizes the resulting alterations in peritoneal cell composition, and quantifies bacterial burden in different organs.
Protocol
Representative Results
Discussion
This article describes a method of inducing a severe form of bacterial sepsis by intraperitoneal injection of Salmonella Typhimurium. This model is advantageous over others as Salmonella Typhimurium is an intracellular pathogen and, hence, highly pathogenic, mimicking the clinically relevant condition of Gram-negative sepsis. The outcome of peritonitis sepsis in this model is systemic, with 100% mortality within 96 h post infection. Therefore, this model is instrumental in studying the inflammatory and …
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Central Animal Facility, IISc for supplying us with mice for research. This study was funded by grants to DpN from the Department of Biotechnology and Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India. The infrastructural support from the DBT-IISc program and DST-FIST grants are greatly acknowledged. We thank all previous and current members of the DpN lab for their support.
Materials
| Consumables | |||
| 1 mL Sterile Syringe with 26 G needle | Beckton Dickinson, Singapore | 303060 | |
| 1.5 mL Microcentrifuge Tube | Tarsons, USA | 500010 | |
| 10 mL Sterile Syringe with 21 G needle | Beckton Dickinson, Spain | 307758 | |
| 50 mL Conical Flask | Tarsons, USA | 441150 | |
| 50 mL Graduated Centrifuge Tube | Tarsons, USA | 546041 | |
| 50 mL Graduated Centrifuge Tube | Tarsons, USA | 546021 | |
| Cell spreader | VWR, USA | VWRU60828-680 | |
| Dulbecco’s Phosphate Buffered Saline | HiMedia, Mumbai, India | TS1006 | |
| Ethanol | Merck | 100983 | |
| FcR blocker | BD Biosciences | 553142 | |
| Fetal Bovine Serum | Gibco | 10270-106 | |
| FITC Rat anti-mouse Ly6G (Clone 1A8) | BD Pharmingen | 551460 | |
| Glycerol | Sigma-Aldrich | G9012 | |
| Hand based Homogenizer | – | – | |
| Hemocytometer (Neubauer counting chamber) | Rohem, India | I.S. 10269 | |
| Luria Bertani Broth | HiMedia, Mumbai, India | M1245 | |
| Paraformaldehyde | Sigma-Aldrich | 158127 | |
| Petriplates | Tarsons, USA | 460091 | |
| RPMI | Himedia, Mumbai, India | AT060-10X1L | |
| Salmonella-Shigella Agar | HiMedia, Mumbai, India | M108 | |
| Sodium azide | Sigma-Aldrich | S2002 | |
| Equipments | |||
| Centrifuge | Kubota | ||
| Flow cytometer | BD FACSverse | ||
| Incubator | N-biotek | ||
| Spectrophotometer | Shimadzu | ||
| Weighing machine | Sartorius |
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