TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of artificially introduced Enterococcus faecalis strains in experimental necrotizing enterocolitis
AU - Delaplain, Patrick T.
AU - Bell, Brandon A.
AU - Wang, Jin
AU - Isani, Mubina
AU - Zhang, Emily
AU - Gayer, Christopher P.
AU - Grishin, Anatoly V.
AU - Ford, Henri R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by: H.R.F., grant AI 014032 from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, https://www.niaid.nih.gov/ . The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank Monica Williams for help in isolating E. faecalis strains; Alec Borsook and Alex Li for bacterial binding experiments. This study was supported by NIH grant AI 014032 to H.R.F.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - Enterococcus faecalis is a ubiquitous intestinal symbiont and common early colonizer of the neonatal gut. Although colonization with E. faecalis has been previously associated with decreased pathology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), these bacteria have been also implicated as opportunistic pathogens. Here we characterized 21 strains of E. faecalis, naturally occurring in 4-day-old rats, for potentially pathogenic properties and ability to colonize the neonatal gut. The strains differed in hemolysis, gelatin liquefaction, antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, and ability to activate the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB in cultured enterocytes. Only 3 strains, BB70, 224, and BB24 appreciably colonized the neonatal intestine on day 4 after artificial introduction with the first feeding. The best colonizer, strain BB70, effectively displaced E. faecalis of maternal origin. Whereas BB70 and BB24 significantly increased NEC pathology, strain 224 significantly protected from NEC. Our results show that different strains of E. faecalis may be pathogenic or protective in experimental NEC.
AB - Enterococcus faecalis is a ubiquitous intestinal symbiont and common early colonizer of the neonatal gut. Although colonization with E. faecalis has been previously associated with decreased pathology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), these bacteria have been also implicated as opportunistic pathogens. Here we characterized 21 strains of E. faecalis, naturally occurring in 4-day-old rats, for potentially pathogenic properties and ability to colonize the neonatal gut. The strains differed in hemolysis, gelatin liquefaction, antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, and ability to activate the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB in cultured enterocytes. Only 3 strains, BB70, 224, and BB24 appreciably colonized the neonatal intestine on day 4 after artificial introduction with the first feeding. The best colonizer, strain BB70, effectively displaced E. faecalis of maternal origin. Whereas BB70 and BB24 significantly increased NEC pathology, strain 224 significantly protected from NEC. Our results show that different strains of E. faecalis may be pathogenic or protective in experimental NEC.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0216762
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0216762
M3 - Article
C2 - 31675374
AN - SCOPUS:85074341719
VL - 14
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 11
M1 - e0216762
ER -