SUSCEPTIBILITY OF NEWBORN MICE TO INTESTINAL COLONIZATION BY ENTEROPATHOGENIC Escherichia coli ISOLATED FROM MILK OF BOVINE WITH MASTITIS.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of the mouse model for colonization by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC). An inoculum of 108 CFU of three different types of E. coli strains: (i) a EPEC strain 3111-90 isolated from human infantile diarrhea (eae+, EAF +); (ii) the EPEC-like strains 537-1 and 263 (eae+ EAF +) isolated from milk of bovine with mastitis; (iii) the strains 304-3 and 988-2 without the intimin gene (eae-, EAF +) isolated from milk of bovine with mastitis was independently administered to three twenty-days-old male albino Swiss mice. The epithelial cells from the intestinal mucosa of mice colonized with the strains 263 and 988-2, examined by light microscopy showed a mild damage in the mucosa with breaks in the superficial stratum, irregularly shaped epithelial cells and an infiltration of inflammatory cells. KEYWORDS: E. coli. EPEC. Experimental mouse model. Histopathological lesions.