Active Suppression of Early Immune Response in Tobacco by the Human Pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium

The persistence of enteric pathogens on plants has been studied extensively, mainly due to the potential hazard of human pathogens such as Salmonella enterica being able to invade and survive in/on plants. Factors involved in the interactions between enteric bacteria and plants have been identified and consequently it was hypothesized that plants may be vectors or alternative hosts for enteric pathogens. To survive, endophytic bacteria have to escape the plant immune systems, which function at different levels through the plant-bacteria interactions. To understand how S. enterica survives endophyticaly we conducted a detailed analysis on its ability to elicit or evade the plant immune response. The models of this study were Nicotiana tabacum plants and cells suspension exposed to S. enterica serovar Typhimurium. The plant immune response was analyzed by looking at tissue damage and by testing oxidative burst and pH changes. It was found that S. Typhimurium did not promote disease symptoms in the contaminated plants. Live S. Typhimurium did not trigger the production of an oxidative burst and pH changes by the plant cells, while heat killed or chloramphenicol treated S. Typhimurium and purified LPS of Salmonella were significant elicitors, indicating that S. Typhimurium actively suppress the plant response. By looking at the plant response to mutants defective in virulence factors we showed that the suppression depends on secreted factors. Deletion of invA reduced the ability of S. Typhimurium to suppress oxidative burst and pH changes, indicating that a functional SPI1 TTSS is required for the suppression. This study demonstrates that plant colonization by S. Typhimurium is indeed an active process. S. Typhimurium utilizes adaptive strategies of altering innate plant perception systems to improve its fitness in the plant habitat. All together these results suggest a complex mechanism for perception of S. Typhimurium by plants

Contractile effect of PGF2alpha and PGE2 on isolated branches of uterine and ovarian artery in different days of estrous cycle and early pregnancy in pigs

The contractile effects of PGF₂α (3 × 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁴ M) and PGE₂ (10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁵ M) were examined on isolated branches of ovarian artery (OA) and extramyometrial branches of uterine artery (UA) collected from pigs in the luteal (day 10-12) and follicular phase (day 17-20) of the estrous cycle, and during early pregnancy (day 10-12). Strong contraction was demonstrated in both arteries during all investigated periods in response to PGF2α, which was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than to PGE₂, being negligible in the follicular phase. In UA, the effective dose of PGF₂α (ED50) amounted 7.9 × 10⁻⁶ M and 6.3 × 10⁻⁶ M in the luteal and follicular phase, and 5.0 × 10⁻⁶ M in early pregnancy. ED50 for PGE₂ reached 5.0 × 10⁻⁷ M in the luteal phase, and 4.1 × 10⁻⁷ M in early pregnancy. For both prostaglandins, the contraction was much stronger (P < 0.01) in OA than in UA branches. In OA, the ED50 for PGF₂α was 1.2 × 10⁻⁵ M in the luteal phase and was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than in the follicular phase (3.1 × 10⁻⁶ M) and early pregnancy (2.7 × 10⁻⁶ M). ED50 for PGE2 amounted 7.3 × 10⁻⁷ M in the luteal phase and 1.7 × 10⁻⁷ M in early pregnancy. Studies showed the influence of the estrous cycle and early pregnancy on OA branches sensitivity to the contractile effect of PGF₂α and the lack of this effect on UA branches, and the influence of the estrous cycle on UA and OA branch contraction in response to PGE2

Direct ovarian-uterine transfer of progesterone increases embryo survival in gilts

This study employed a unilateral ovariectomy model to investigate the relevance of the local supply of progesterone (ovary) compared with the systemic supply of progesterone, in terms of embryo survival in the ipsilateral uterine horn as opposed to the contralateral uterine horn. Thirty gilts were unilaterally ovariectomised (ULO) during the luteal stage of their first oestrous cycle. Half of the ULO gilts were fed at 1.2 maintenance requirement (M), while the other half were fed at 2.4 M. Across ULO gilts 0.8 more embryos survived in the ipsilateral horn compared with the contralateral horn at Day 35 of gestation (P < 0.05). In ULO gilts on the 2.4 M feed level the difference (+1.3; P < 0.05) between the ipsi- and contralateral horn was more pronounced than on the 1.2 M feed level (+0.4; NS). The higher feed level reduced circulating levels of systemic progesterone on Day 5 of pregnancy but not embryo survival at Day 35. However, post-implantation embryo survival was lower on the low feed level. In conclusion, these data indicate that local progesterone supply from the ovaries to the uterus contributes to the probability of embryo survival.R. Z. Athorn, P. Stott, E. G. Bouwman, R. Ashman, S. O’Leary, M. Nottle and P. Langendij