Biomaterial Database

Relationship of type 1 pilus expression in Escherichia coli to ascending urinary tract infections in mice. 1987

A J Schaeffer, and W R Schwan, and S J Hultgren, and J L Duncan

The role of type 1 pili and P adhesins during the in vivo growth of Escherichia coli inoculated into the urethras of BALB/c mice was studied. Strains which produced type 1 pili when grown in broth but lost this trait when grown on agar (regulated variants) were tested. Broth-grown organisms colonized the bladder of every animal tested, with counts of 10(3) to 10(4) viable organisms recovered from bladder homogenates. Agar-grown organisms gave lower rates of infection and the number of viable organisms recovered from bladders was significantly reduced. The degree of inoculum piliation influenced bladder colonization in a direct way: as piliation increased, the number of bacteria recovered from bladders also increased. After intraurethral inoculation, all of the bladders and 44% of the kidneys were colonized on day 1, and by day 5, 94% of the bladders and 16% of the kidneys were positive. Hemagglutination titers remained high for the bladder isolates, but the organisms colonizing the kidneys became significantly less piliated with time. Bacteriuria was unrelated to bladder or renal colonization. Strains that demonstrated random phase variation of type 1 pili during growth on agar produced similar colonizations of the urinary tract with broth- and agar-grown inocula. Strains that produced only P adhesins were less effective in colonizing the urinary tract than were type 1 piliated organisms. Other strains which did not produce pili only minimally colonized the bladder. The results suggest that type 1 pili play an essential role in ascending infections of the urinary tract.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007668	Kidney	Body organ that filters blood for the secretion of URINE and that regulates ion concentrations.	Kidneys
D008807	Mice, Inbred BALB C	An inbred strain of mouse that is widely used in IMMUNOLOGY studies and cancer research.	BALB C Mice, Inbred,BALB C Mouse, Inbred,Inbred BALB C Mice,Inbred BALB C Mouse,Mice, BALB C,Mouse, BALB C,Mouse, Inbred BALB C,BALB C Mice,BALB C Mouse
D010861	Fimbriae, Bacterial	Thin, hairlike appendages, 1 to 20 microns in length and often occurring in large numbers, present on the cells of gram-negative bacteria, particularly Enterobacteriaceae and Neisseria. Unlike flagella, they do not possess motility, but being protein (pilin) in nature, they possess antigenic and hemagglutinating properties. They are of medical importance because some fimbriae mediate the attachment of bacteria to cells via adhesins (ADHESINS, BACTERIAL). Bacterial fimbriae refer to common pili, to be distinguished from the preferred use of "pili", which is confined to sex pili (PILI, SEX).	Bacterial Fimbriae,Bacterial Pili,Common Fimbriae,Common Pili,Pili, Bacterial,Pili, Common,Bacterial Fimbria,Bacterial Pilus,Common Fimbria,Common Pilus,Fimbria, Bacterial,Pilus, Bacterial,Fimbria, Common,Fimbriae, Common,Pilus, Common
D001743	Urinary Bladder	A musculomembranous sac along the URINARY TRACT. URINE flows from the KIDNEYS into the bladder via the ureters (URETER), and is held there until URINATION.	Bladder,Bladder Detrusor Muscle,Detrusor Urinae,Bladder Detrusor Muscles,Bladder, Urinary,Detrusor Muscle, Bladder,Detrusor Muscles, Bladder
D004195	Disease Models, Animal	Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases.	Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D004927	Escherichia coli Infections	Infections with bacteria of the species ESCHERICHIA COLI.	E coli Infections,E. coli Infection,Infections, E coli,Infections, Escherichia coli,E coli Infection,E. coli Infections,Escherichia coli Infection,Infection, E coli,Infection, E. coli,Infection, Escherichia coli
D005260	Female		Females
D006384	Hemagglutination	The aggregation of ERYTHROCYTES by AGGLUTININS, including antibodies, lectins, and viral proteins (HEMAGGLUTINATION, VIRAL).	Hemagglutinations
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001437	Bacteriuria	The presence of bacteria in the urine which is normally bacteria-free. These bacteria are from the URINARY TRACT and are not contaminants of the surrounding tissues. Bacteriuria can be symptomatic or asymptomatic. Significant bacteriuria is an indicator of urinary tract infection.	Bacteriurias