Journal
MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 198, Issue 3, Pages 195-204Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00430-009-0119-4
Keywords
CglD; Escherichia coli K1; Neonatal meningitis; Blood-brain barrier; Cerebrospinal fluid; Glycerol dehydrogenase
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [30570094, 30500277, 30600327]
- Doctoral Seeding Fund of Liaoning Province [20051036]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most common gram-negative organism causing meningitis during the neonatal period. The mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of E. coli meningitis remains unclear. We previously identified a pathogenicity island GimA (genetic island of meningitic E. coli containing ibeA) from the genomic DNA library of E. coli K1, which may contribute to the E. coli invasion of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). CglD is one of the genes in GimA, and its function remains unknown. In order to characterize the role of cglD in the E. coli meningitis, an isogenic in-frame cglD deletion mutant of E. coli K1 was generated. The results showed that the median lethal dose of the cglD deletion mutant strain was significant higher than that of parent E. coli K1 strain, and the cglD deletion in E. coli K1 prolonged survival of the neonatal rats in experimental meningitis. However, deletion of cglD has no effect on the penetration of E. coli K1 through BBB in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, our results showed that deletion of cglD in E. coli K1 attenuated cerebrospinal fluid changes, meningeal thickening, and neutrophil infiltration in the cerebral cortex in the neonatal rats with experimental meningitis. Additional results showed that the role of CglD in neonatal meningitis may be associated with its activity of glycerol dehydrogenase. Taken together, our study suggested that CglD is a virulence factor of E. coli K1 contributed to the development of neonatal meningitis.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available