Vaccination of BALB/c mice with an avirulent Mycoplasma pneumoniae P30 mutant results in disease exacerbation upon challenge with a virulent strain.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a significant human respiratory pathogen that causes high morbidity worldwide. No vaccine to prevent M. pneumoniae infection currently exists, since the mechanisms of pathogenesis are poorly understood. To this end, we constructed a P30 cytadhesin mutant (P-130) with a drastically reduced capacity for binding to erythrocytes and an inability to glide on glass substrates. This mutant was determined to be avirulent and cannot survive in the lungs of BALB/c mice. We also ascertained that the previously identified P30 gliding motility mutant II-3R is avirulent and also cannot be recovered from the lungs of mice after infection. Mutant P130 was then assessed for its efficacy as a live attenuated vaccine candidate in mice after challenge with wild-type M. pneumoniae. After vaccination with the P-130 P30 mutant, mice showed evidence of exacerbated disease upon subsequent challenge with the wild-type strain PI1428, which appears to be driven by a Th17 response and corresponding eosinophilia. Our results are in accordance with other reports of vaccine-induced disease exacerbation in rodents and emphasize the need to better understand the basic mechanisms of M. pneumoniae pathogenesis.

Pulmonary eosinophilia correlates with allergen deposition to the lower respiratory tract in a mouse model of asthma.

BACKGROUND: Eosinophilic infiltration into the airways is frequently associated with allergic asthma; however, the role of antigen deposition in mediating this phenomenon has not been studied in detail. OBJECTIVE: Using a murine model of ovalbumin (OVA) allergy, we examined how differential deposition of OVA during antigen challenge affects pulmonary eosinophilia, immune response and airway hyper-reactivity (AHR). METHODS: Differential allergen deposition to the upper respiratory tract (URT) alone or combined upper and lower respiratory tract (ULRT) was accomplished by administering OVA intranasally to either anaesthetized or unanaesthetized mice, respectively. BALB/c mice (6-7 weeks old) were sensitized with OVA-alum via the intraperitoneal route, and then challenged intranasally using OVA, with or without anaesthesia. AHR, enumeration of inflammatory cells and quantitative measurement of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lung histopathology and immune responses were subsequently assessed. RESULTS: In sensitized animals challenged via the ULRT route, a profound eosinophilia and goblet cell hyperplasia was observed in lung tissue. Conversely, sensitized mice receiving an identical challenge dose via the URT route alone exhibited only negligible levels of inflammation. Interestingly, AHR and OVA-specific IgG(1) and IgE systemic responses were comparable between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that direct exposure of allergen in the deep lung is highly correlated with airway eosinophilia and lung inflammation, but does not correlate with AHR or immune response.

Toxicity and carcinogenicity of chlorodibromomethane in Fischer 344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice.

Chlorodibromomethane, a trihalomethane found in water supplies after chlorination, was administered by gavage in corn oil to male and female Fischer 344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice in toxicity studies of 13 weeks and 2 years duration. Doses used in the 13-week study were 0, 15, 30, 60, 125, and 250 mg/kg in rats and mice. At 250 mg/kg, hepatic and renal toxicity was produced in male and female rats and male mice, and mortality was increased in male and female rats. In the chronic study, male and female rats were administered the chemical at 0, 40, and 80 mg/kg. No adverse effects on survival in treated rats were observed. Male rats receiving 80 mg/kg had reduced body weight gains relative to controls. Fatty change and cytoplasmic changes were seen in the liver of treated male and female rats. The male and female mice in the chronic study received doses of 0, 50, and 100 mg/kg of chemical. A dosing accident rendered the number of low-dose male mice inadequate for statistical analysis. High-dose male mice had reduced survival relative to controls. Survival was similar in dosed and control female mice. Dosed male and high-dose female mice had reduced body weight relative to controls. Non-neoplastic hepatic lesions were seen in treated male mice (necrosis and hepatocytomegaly) and in treated female mice (calcification and fatty change); nephrosis was seen in treated male mice. The incidence of hepatocellular adenoma and carcinoma (combined) was increased in treated female mice, but only marginally so in treated male mice. Chlorodibromomethane, like chloroform, is toxic to liver and kidneys, and like chloroform induces hepatocellular tumors in mice.

Selective acetaminophen metabolite binding to hepatic and extrahepatic proteins: an in vivo and in vitro analysis.

Acetaminophen (APAP) administration (600 mg/kg, po) to fasted male CD-1 mice resulted in cellular damage to liver, lung, and kidney. An affinity purified antibody against covalently bound APAP was used to identify APAP-protein adducts in microsomal and cytosolic extracts from these target organs. The proteins were resolved on SDS-PAGE, transblotted to nitrocellulose membranes, and analyzed immunochemically. Covalent binding of APAP to intracellular proteins was only observed in those organs which exhibited cellular damage; no APAP adducts were detected in tissues which did not undergo necrosis. In all target tissues the arylation of proteins was not random but highly selective with two adducts of 44 and 58 kDa accounting for the majority of the total APAP-bound proteins which were detected immunochemically. In addition, a third major APAP-protein adduct of 33 kDa was also observed in kidney cytosol. The severity of tissue damage and the amount of adducts present in these tissues could be significantly reduced when mice were pretreated with the mixed function oxidase inhibitor, piperonyl butoxide, prior to APAP dosing. Immunochemical analysis of plasma from APAP-treated animals indicated the presence of several protein adducts by 4 hr following drug administration. These adducts did not appear to be of plasma origin. Incubation of cytosolic proteins from liver, lung, kidney, spleen, brain, and heart with an APAP metabolite generating liver microsomal system demonstrated that the cytosolic 58-kDa protein target was native to all tissues tested. By contrast, the 58-kDa protein target did not appear to be endogenous to plasma since it was not detected when plasma was incubated in vitro with the liver microsomal system. These studies indicate that, although the 58-kDa proteins appear to be endogenous to both target and nontarget tissues, the 58-kDa APAP-protein adducts are detectable only in tissues which become damaged by APAP.