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E. coli Infection of Kidney Cell Cultures

    In the study of bacterial infection, this webpage takes what most tissue and cell culturists would think as a heretical perspective - working with intentionally infected cell cultures. This is heretical because spurious infections of cell cultures is one of the big banes of that operation.

    There was a small series of experiments in the early 1970's that was not picked up by others and carried to logical conclusions. It seems time to move this back to the "front burner" and begin heating it up again!

    In brief, several students (now respected researchers) found that hemolytic strains of E.coli were not only capable of causing pyelonephritis in mice and rats, but also were able to lyse kidney cell cultures. They also showed that if the hemolytic trait were mutated out of the E.coli, the hem- strains were no longer pathogenic, and could not lyse cell cultures.

    These students also showed that upon periodic inspection of the kidneys of the infected mice, the kidneys appeared to be highly inflammed. They then treated some of the mice with the anti-inflammatory hormones cortisone and dexamethisone. Even when the mice seemed to be gasping their last breaths, a shot of dexamethisone brought them back from the brink of death, and just one shot was sufficient for their recovery with only a little scar tissue showing on their kidneys. So much for the animal model of the infection and treatment.

    Moving to the cell culture model, it was never tested as to whether cell cultures infected with hem+ E.coli and treated with dexamethisone lysed or not.

    Even after 30 years, very little work has been done using intentionally infected cell cultures. It seems time that a new group of students pick up this ball and run with it - as models for infections of both kidneys and other organs. Significance? Urinary tract infections are among the most common serious bacterial infections, and fall under such names as cystitis, nephritis and pyelonephritis.