< i > Burkholderia pseudomallei < /i > invades the olfactory nerve and bulb after epithelial injury in mice and causes the formation of multinucleated giant glial cells < i > in vitro < /i >

by Heidi Walkden, Ali Delbaz, Lynn Nazareth, Michael Batzloff, Todd Shelper, Ifor R. Beacham, Anu Chacko, Megha Shah, Kenneth W. Beagley, Johana Tello Velasquez, James A. St John, Jenny A. K. Ekberg The infectious disease melioidosis is caused by the bacteriumBurkholderia pseudomallei. Melioidosis is characterised by high mortality and morbidity and can involve the central nervous system (CNS). We have previously discovered thatB.pseudomallei can infect the CNS via the olfactory and trigeminal nerves in mice. We have shown that the nerve path is dependent on mouse strain, with outbred mice showing resistance to olfactory nerve infection. Damage to the nasal epithelium by environmental factors is common, and we hypothesised that injury to the olfactory epithelium may increase the vulnerability of the olfactory nerve to microbial insult. We therefore investigated this, using outbred mice that were intranasally inoculated withB.pseudomallei, with or without methimazole-induced injury to the olfactory neuroepithelium. Methimazole-mediated injury resulted in increasedB.pseudomallei invasion of the olfactory epithelium, and only in pre-injured animals were bacteria found in the olfactory nerve and bulb.In vitro assays demonstrated thatB.pseudomallei readily infected glial cells isolated from the olfactory and trigeminal nerves (olfactory ensheathing cells and trigeminal Schwann cells, respectively). Bacteria were degraded by some cells but persisted in other cells, which led to th...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research