1. Abilities of C. muridarum with or without mutations in tc0668 to ascend to the oviduct and spread to GI tract tissues following transcervical inoculation.
Abilities of C. muridarum with or without mutations in tc0668 to ascend to the oviduct and spread to GI tract tissues following transcervical inoculation. The wild-type (G , n = 4, panel a) or attenuated mutant (G , n = 4, c) C. muridarum clone was transcervically inoculated into female C3H/HeJ mice. On day 14 after inoculation, mice were sacrificed for harvesting of genital tract tissues, which were divided into the vagina/cervix (VC), uterine horn (UH), and oviduct/ovary (OV), and GI tract tissues, which were divided into the stomach (ST), small intestine (SI), cecum (CE), colon (CO), and anus-rectum (RE), as displayed on the x axis, for measurement of live organisms. Vaginal and rectal swabs taken prior to mouse sacrifice were also monitored. Live-organism titers, expressed as log10 IFU counts per tissue sample, are displayed on the y axis. Live organisms from vaginal swabs along with VC are designated the lower genital tract (LGT), while those from UH and OV are designated the upper genital tract (UGT). *, P < 0.05 (a versus b in corresponding tissues/swabs, Wilcoxon rank sum test); ns, not significant.
Lili Shao et al. Infect. Immun. 2017; doi: /IAI