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Biomedical subjects

V B Young

Publications and source records attributed to V B Young.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

C57BL/6 and congenic interleukin-10-deficient mice can serve as models of Campylobacter jejuni colonization and enteritis.

Campylobacter jejuni is a globally distributed cause of human food-borne enteritis and has been linked to chronic joint and neurological diseases. We hypothesized that C. jejuni 11168 colonizes the gastrointestinal tract of both C57BL/6 mice and congenic C57BL/6 interleukin-10-deficient (IL-10(-/-)) mice and that C57BL/6 IL-10(-/-) mice experience C. jejuni 11168-mediated clinical signs and pathology. Individually housed mice were challenged orally with C. jejuni 11168, and the course of infection was monitored by clinical examination, bacterial culture, C. jejuni-specific PCR, gross pathology, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and anti-C. jejuni-specific serology. Ceca of C. jejuni 11168-infected mice were colonized at high rates: ceca of 50/50 wild-type mice and 168/170 IL-10(-/-) mice were colonized. In a range from 2 to 35 days after infection with C. jejuni 11168, C57BL/6 IL-10(-/-) mice developed severe typhlocolitis best evaluated at the ileocecocolic junction. Rates of colonization and enteritis did not differ between male and female mice. A dose-response experiment showed that as little as 10(6) CFU produced significant disease and pathological lesions similar to responses seen in humans. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated C. jejuni antigens within gastrointestinal tissues of infected mice. Significant anti-C. jejuni plasma immunoglobulin levels developed by day 28 after infection in both wild-type and IL-10-deficient animals; antibodies were predominantly T-helper-cell 1 (Th1)-associated subtypes. These results indicate that the colonization of the mouse gastrointestinal tract by C. jejuni 11168 is necessary but not sufficient for the development of enteritis and that C57BL/6 IL-10(-/-) mice can serve as models for the study of C. jejuni enteritis in humans.

Animals↗

Cytolethal distending toxin in avian and human isolates of Helicobacter pullorum.

Helicobacter pullorum has been isolated from the feces and livers of poultry and is associated with human gastroenteritis. Discrimination of this organism from other enterohepatic Helicobacter species and Campylobacter species has proven difficult. H. pullorum from both avian and human clinical sources has DNA sequence homology and cytotoxic activity that represent a new member of the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) family of bacterial toxins. CDT is a potential virulence factor in H. pullorum that may serve as a distinguishing phenotype and aid in identification of this organism in veterinary and human clinical samples.

Animals↗

Cytolethal distending toxin sequence and activity in the enterohepatic pathogen Helicobacter hepaticus.

Little is known about the molecular pathogenesis of hepatitis and enterocolitis caused by enterohepatic Helicobacter species. Sonicates of the murine pathogen Helicobacter hepaticus were found to cause progressive cell distension, accumulation of filamentous actin, and G(2)/M cell cycle arrest in HeLa cell monolayers. The genes encoding this cytotoxic activity were cloned from H. hepaticus. Three open reading frames with closest homology to cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC from Campylobacter jejuni were identified. Sonicates of a laboratory strain of Escherichia coli carrying the cloned cdtABC gene cluster from H. hepaticus reproduced the cytotoxic activities seen with sonicates of H. hepaticus. Cytolethal distending toxin activity is a potential virulence determinant of H. hepaticus that may play a role in the pathogenesis of Helicobacter-associated hepatitis and enterocolitis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Chronic atrophic gastritis in SCID mice experimentally infected with Campylobacter fetus.

Campylobacter fetus is a cause of enteritis and invasive extraintestinal disease in humans. In order to develop an animal model of C. fetus infection, outbred ICR SCID mice were orally challenged with a clinical isolate of C. fetus. The stomachs of SCID mice were heavily colonized with C. fetus, and colonization was associated with the development of chronic atrophic gastritis. This lesion was characterized by an inflammatory infiltrate of granulocytes and macrophages that over time resulted in a loss of specialized parietal and chief cells in the corpus and the appearance of a metaplastic mucous epithelium. This lesion bears similarity to that encountered during experimental murine infection with Helicobacter pylori or Helicobacter felis. Despite colonization of the cecum and colon tissues by C. fetus in SCID mice, no lesions were noted in these tissues. A follow-up study confirmed these findings for SCID mice and also demonstrated that C. fetus could also infect the gastric mucosa of wild-type, outbred ICR mice. However, in ICR mice, the anatomic extent of colonization was more limited and the severity of inflammation and epithelial alterations was significantly less than that observed in infected SCID mice. The stomach may represent an unrecognized environmental niche for Campylobacter species.

Animals↗

The invasin protein of Yersinia enterocolitica: internalization of invasin-bearing bacteria by eukaryotic cells is associated with reorganization of the cytoskeleton.

Yersinia enterocolitica, a facultative intracellular pathogen of mammals, readily enters (i.e., invades) cultured eukaryotic cells, a process that can be conferred by the cloned inv locus of the species. We have studied the mechanism by which the product of inv, a microbial outer membrane protein termed "invasin," mediates the internalization of bacteria by HEp-2 cells and chicken embryo fibroblasts. Invasin-bearing bacteria initially bound the filopodia and the leading edges of cultured cells. Multiple points of contact between the bacterial surface and the surface of the cell ensued and led to the internalization of the bacterium within an endocytic vacuole; the same multi-step process could be induced by an inert particle coated with invasin-containing membranes. Both adherence and internalization were blocked by an antisera directed against the beta 1 integrin cell-adherence molecule. Ultrastructural studies of detergent-insoluble cytoskeletons from infected cells and immunofluorescence microscopy of phalloidin-labeled cells showed alterations in the structure of the cytoskeleton during the internalization process including the accumulation of polymerized actin around entering bacteria. Bacterial entry was prevented by cytochalasin D indicating that the internalization process requires actin microfilament function. Possible linkages between beta 1 containing integrins and the cytoskeleton were examined during the internalization process through the use of protein-specific antibodies and immunofluorescence microscopy. Like actin, the actin-associated proteins filamin, talin and the beta 1 integrin subunit were also found to accumulate around entering bacteria. These findings suggest that the invasin-mediated internalization process is associated with cytoskeletal reorganization.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗

Sequence, localization and function of the invasin protein of Yersinia enterocolitica.

The inv locus of Yersinia enterocolitica is sufficient to convert a non-invasive Escherichia coli K12 strain into a microorganism that is able to penetrate cultured mammalian cells. The nucleotide sequence of inv reveals an open reading frame corresponding to an 835-amino-acid protein that is homologous to the invasin protein from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. A polyclonal antiserum elicited by a synthetic peptide corresponding to the C-terminal 88 amino acids of this open reading frame detected a unique 100 kD protein in cell lysates of Y. enterocolitica strain 8081 c and in an E. coli strain harbouring the cloned inv gene. This protein localized to the outer membranes of both microorganisms and was cleaved by low concentrations of extracellular trypsin. HEp-2 cells were shown to attach to surfaces coated with bacterial outer membranes containing invasin and this attachment was destroyed by treatment of the membranes with trypsin. Thus it appears that the invasin protein from Y. enterocolitica is able to mediate both attachment to and entry of cultured epithelial cells.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗

Bacteriophage lambda cro mutations: effects on activity and intracellular degradation.

Following random mutagenesis of the bacteriophage lambda cro gene, we have isolated missense mutations that affect approximately half of the 66 residue positions of Cro. About two-thirds of the mutations change residues involved in the maintenance of Cro structure and stability. The corresponding mutant proteins are severely degraded in the cell but often have specific activities near that of wild-type Cro. The remaining mutations affect residues involved in DNA binding. These mutant proteins are present at moderately reduced intracellular levels, but their specific activities are much lower than that of wild type.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Reversal of granulocyte adherence to nylon fibers using local anesthetic agents: possible application to filtration leukapheresis.

The effects of the cationic anesthetic agents tetracaine and lidocaine on granulocyte function, morphology, and adherence to nylon fibers were studied in an attempt to improve current methods of granulocyte collection by filtration leukapheresis (FL). When dissolved in acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) plasma, these drugs significantly increased granulocyte elution from the fibers in a dose-related fashion. Granulocytes exposed to tetracaine and lidocaine remained more than 95% viable, retained normal bactericidal capacity after the drugs were washed from the cells, and had preserved membrane integrity, as evidenced by the normal ultrastructural appearance of tetracaine-exposed cells and an absence of leakage of lysozyme or lactic dehydrogenase. Granulocytes eluted with the anesthetic agents were rounded in shape with a reduction in the number of filopodial cytoplasmic projections and a relative absence of cytoplasmic vacuolization when compared to granulocytes eluted with ACD plasma alone. Dose-related inhibition of phagocytosis and adherence, which was largely reversible after washing the granulocytes, was noted. Greater than 95% of the lidocaine could be removed from the eluate with a single centrifugation and resuspension, indicating that granulocytes prepared by FL with anesthetic-enhanced elution could be potentially transfusable.

Anesthetics, Local↗