The Mouse Model of Infection with Citrobacter rodentium

Abstract

Citrobacter rodentium is a murine mucosal pathogen used as a model to elucidate the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of infection with two clinically important human gastrointestinal pathogens, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). C. rodentium infection provides an excellent model to study different aspects of host-pathogen interaction in the gut, including intestinal inflammatory responses during bacteria-induced colitis, mucosal healing and epithelial repair, the induction of mucosal immune responses, and the role of the intestinal microbiota in mediating resistance to colonization by enteric pathogens. This unit provides detailed protocols for growing this bacterium, infecting mice by intragastric inoculation, measuring bacterial loads in feces and organs, and monitoring intestinal pathology induced by infection. Additional protocols describe steps needed to create frozen stocks, establish a growth curve, perform ex vivo organ cultures, isolate immune cells from the large intestine, and measure immune response by flow cytometry. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.