| Popis: |
Ureaplasma parvum, an opportunistic pathogen of the human urogenital tract, has been implicated in contributing to chorioamnionitis, fetal morbidity, and fetal mortality. It has been proposed that the host genetic background is a critical factor in adverse pregnancy outcome as sequela to U. parvum intra-amniotic infection. To test this hypothesis we assessed the impact of intrauterine U. parvum infection in the prototypical TH1/M1 C57BL/6 and TH2/M2 BALB/c mouse strain. Sterile medium or U. parvum was inoculated into each uterine horn and animals were evaluated for intra-amniotic infection, fetal infection, chorioamnionitis and fetal pathology at 72 hours post-inoculation. Disease outcome was assessed by microbial culture, in situ detection of U. parvum in fetal and utero-placental tissues, grading of chorioamnionitis, and placental gene expression of IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, S100A8, and S100A9. Placental infection and colonization rates were equivalent in both strains. The in situ distribution of U. parvum in placental tissues was also similar. However, a significantly greater proportion of BALB/c fetuses were infected (P |
