Chlamydia trachomatis serovar D genital tract infected mice model: Establishment and evaluation

Objective: To construct a mouse model for studying pathophysiology and mechanism of human Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection. Methods: Innate immunity-deficient C3H/HeJ female mice were infected intravaginally with human C. trachomatis serovar D urogenital isolates for screening the highest violent clinical strain. The clinical strain UT0603 as well as standard strain D/UW-3/CX were then used to reinfect naive mice, the lower genital tract shedding were monitored by swabbing every 3-7 day over the entire infection period by culture. Some mice were sacrificed at early infection stage to detection of in site Chlamydia growth by immunofluorescence assay, then all the mice were sacrificed at later infection stage to evaluate upper genital tract gross pathology and histopathological characterization. Results: In the lower genital tract, Chlamydia shedding time course were significantly prolonged in clinical strain infected mice. Chlamydia not only growth in the lower genital tract, the live organism also ascending and growth in the upper genital tissue. The gross appearance under naked eyes and dilation and inflammation scores under microscope all showed that the genital tract pathology from the clinical strain infected mice were much more severe than standard strain infected control mice. Conclusion: Together, all these results demonstrated that a mouse model for Chlamydia genital infection was constructed.