China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2021, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (9): 3491-3499.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2021.09.042

• Basic Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles    

Ultrastructural Characteristics of Pathological Damage Induced by Escherichia coli High Pathogenicity Island from Saba Pig

SHAN Chunlan1, ZHANG Bo1, ZHAO Weiwei2, WANG Hao3, YANG Wei3, DENG Jing3, ZHAO Ru3, GAO Libo3, XIAO Peng3, LYU Longbao4, GAO Hong3   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China;
    2. College of Food Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China;
    3. College of Veterinary Medicine, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China;
    4. Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
  • Received:2021-01-13 Online:2021-09-20 Published:2021-09-17

Abstract: In order to explore the ultrastructural characteristics of pathological damage in mice induced by Escherichia coli(E. coli) highly pathogenic virulence island (HPI) from Saba pig, the E. coli HPI positive strain (HPI+) and E. coli HPI gene deletion strain (ΔHPI) preserved in the laboratory were resuscitated and cultured. Then the Kunming mice were infected with E. coli HPI+ and E. coli ΔHPI strains by intraperitoneal inoculation, and the 50% lethal dose (LD50) of the strains was detected. The HE staining and transmission electron microscopy were used to observe and analyze the ultrastructural characteristics of pathological damage in mice. Immunohistochemistry was used to mark the distribution of interleukin-1β(IL-1β) positive cells in the liver and kidney tissues of infected mice to reflect the difference in inflammation levels caused by the strain E. coli HPI+ and E. coli ΔHPI. The results showed that the LD50 of E. coli HPI+ and E. coli ΔHPI strains were 1×107.39 and 1×108.62 CFU/mL, respectively. HE staining showed that after E. coli infection in mice, pathological changes, such as swelling and degeneration of liver cells, hepatic sinus congestion, renal interstitial congestion, renal tubular epithelial cells degeneration and shedding, were observed. The ultrastructural changes showed that the complete morphology of liver cells disappeared, the nuclei showed irregular morphology, mitochondrial abnormalities, ribosome shedding on rough endoplasmic reticulum, and smooth endoplasmic reticulum hyperplasia. Most renal tubular epithelial cells showed nucleus pyknosis, some of the nucleoli were shifted and the volume increased, the foot processes were fused, and the mesangial cell gap was widened. In addition, the edema in liver and kidney of E. coli HPI+ infection group was more obvious than that of mice infected with E. coli ΔHPI strain. The results of immunohistochemistry showed that IL-1β was mainly expressed in hepatocytes and pericentral veins, renal interstitial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells after E. coli infection in mice, and IL-1β expression in E. coli HPI+ infection group was higher than that of the E. coli ΔHPI infection group. To sum up, E. coli HPI from Saba pig could regulate the pathogenicity of E. coli to mice. The regulation of HPI could make the pathological changes and ultrastructural changes of liver and kidney of mice more obvious, and increase the inflammatory response of mice.

Key words: Escherichia coli; high pathogenicity island (HPI); pathogenicity; interleukin-1β (IL-1β)

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