Abstract
Streptococcus suis is a common pathogen colonising the respiratory tract of pigs. It can cause meningitis, sepsis and pneumonia leading to economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and its metabolites play an important regulatory role in different biological processes like inflammation modulation and immune activation. In this report we analysed the induction of COX-2 and the production of its metabolite prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in a porcine precision-cut lung slice (PCLS) model. Using Western blot analysis, we found a time-dependent induction of COX-2 in the infected tissue resulting in increased PGE2 levels. Immunohistological analysis revealed a strong COX-2 expression in the proximity of the bronchioles between the ciliated epithelial cells and the adjacent alveolar tissue. The morphology, location and vimentin staining suggested that these cells are subepithelial bronchial fibroblasts. Furthermore, we showed that COX-2 expression as well as PGE2 production was detected following infection with two prevalent S. suis serotypes and that the pore-forming toxin suilysin played an important role in this process. Therefore, this study provides new insights in the response of porcine lung cells to S. suis infections and serves as a basis for further studies to define the role of COX-2 and its metabolites in the inflammatory response in porcine lung tissue during infections with S. suis.
Highlights
Streptococcus suis is an important coloniser of the upper respiratory tract of pigs
Since virtually no study has systematically analysed the biology of COX-2 in the porcine lung following S. suis infection, we used an ex vivo model of porcine precision-cut lung slices infected with S. suis to explore COX-2 induction and
To investigate whether COX-2 was expressed in S. suis-infected precision-cut lung slice (PCLS), slices were infected for the indicated time and COX-2 induction was analysed by Western blotting
Summary
Streptococcus suis is an important coloniser of the upper respiratory tract of pigs. It can cause a variety of disease manifestations ranging from pneumonia, septicaemia, meningitis to arthritis leading to great economic losses in the pig industry (reviewed in [1,2]). The bacterium shows a high diversity of more than 700 sequence types and can be classified into different serotypes based on its capsule polysaccharide [5]. Serotype 2 strains are considered the most common ones, causing infections in pigs and humans [1], infections with serotype 9 strains are becoming increasingly important in several countries, in Western Europe [1,6]. Some virulence and virulence-associated factors have been identified and characterised including the capsule, muraminidase-released protein, the extracellular factor and the pore-forming
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
