Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is an important zoonotic pathogen that is the leading cause of both human foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide and ovine abortion in the United States. Previous studies have demonstrated that the gallbladder of ruminants is often positive on culture for Campylobacter sp., suggesting that this environment may serve as a chronic nidus of infection for maintenance of disease within populations. The objective of this study was to determine if previously identified putative growth promoting factors of C. jejuni are present within the gallbladder mucosa of sheep and to evaluate for bacterial co-localization of C. jejuni with these compounds following experimental inoculation. Direct gallbladder inoculation with C. jejuni sheep abortion (SA) clone clinical isolate IA3902 followed by immunohistochemical analysis and scanning electron microscopy allowed for identification of C. jejuni at the gallbladder mucosal surface and within the gallbladder submucosal glands. Histochemistry identified several putative Campylobacter growth promoting factors including neutral and acid mucins as well as L-fucose to be present both on the mucosal surface as well as in the gallbladder submucosal glands. In summary, following experimental inoculation of the ovine gallbladder, C. jejuni IA3902 was identified in direct contact with the gallbladder mucosal surface and deep mucosal glands in the same location as several putative growth promoting factors. This suggests the yet to be tested hypothesis that under natural conditions of infection, the gallbladder submucosal glands have the potential to provide a protected niche for chronic carriage of C. jejuni in animal hosts.
Highlights
Campylobacteriosis is an important infectious disease of sheep worldwide, leading to abortion storms with large economic losses in infected flocks
Our findings suggest that chemoattractant compounds present in the deep mucosal invaginations and glands of the gallbladder mucosa may encourage recruitment of C. jejuni into these crypts
Following 24 h of incubation, an average of 8.4 log10 bacteria were present in the bile, with an additional 7.3 log10 bacteria estimated to be located within the gallbladder wall scrapings
Summary
Campylobacteriosis is an important infectious disease of sheep worldwide, leading to abortion storms with large economic losses in infected flocks. Fetus was considered the primary causative agent of ovine abortion in the United States due to Campylobacter sp., with only sporadic cases of abortion due to C. jejuni of varying strain types reported [1, 2]. Between the end of the last century and the 2000’s, a single clonal isolate, C. jejuni sheep abortion (SA) clone, represented by the clinical isolate IA3902, was observed to become the predominant cause of ovine abortion in the United States [4]. Similar to the ecology of the organism in chickens, it is suspected that chronic colonization of the ruminant host leads to constant shedding of the C. jejuni into the environment maintaining it in the sheep population even when clinical disease is not present. Constant bile secretion from the gallbladder into the intestinal tract provides an alternative location for chronic C. jejuni carriage that could lead to a positive fecal culture result
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