Anton Y. Peleg1,2,3, Sebastian M. Jara3, Divya Monga3, George M. Eliopoulos1,2, Robert C. Moellering1,2, Eleftherios Mylonakis2,3
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
2Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
3Massachusetts General Hospital
Tóm tắt
ABSTRACT
Nonmammalian model systems of infection such as
Galleria mellonella
(caterpillars of the greater wax moth) have significant logistical and ethical advantages over mammalian models. In this study, we utilize
G. mellonella
caterpillars to study host-pathogen interactions with the gram-negative organism
Acinetobacter baumannii
and determine the utility of this infection model to study antibacterial efficacy. After infecting
G. mellonella
caterpillars with a reference
A. baumannii
strain, we observed that the rate of
G. mellonella
killing was dependent on the infection inoculum and the incubation temperature postinfection, with greater killing at 37°C than at 30°C (
P
= 0.01).
A. baumannii
strains caused greater killing than the less-pathogenic species
Acinetobacter baylyi
and
Acinetobacter lwoffii
(
P
< 0.001). Community-acquired
A. baumannii
caused greater killing than a reference hospital-acquired strain (
P
< 0.01). Reduced levels of production of the quorum-sensing molecule 3-hydroxy-C
12
-homoserine lactone caused no change in
A. baumannii
virulence against
G. mellonella
. Treatment of a lethal
A. baumannii
infection with antibiotics that had in vitro activity against the infecting
A. baumannii
strain significantly prolonged the survival of
G. mellonella
caterpillars compared with treatment with antibiotics to which the bacteria were resistant.
G. mellonella
is a relatively simple, nonmammalian model system that can be used to facilitate the in vivo study of host-pathogen interactions in
A. baumannii
and the efficacy of antibacterial agents.
