Abstract
Most reported laboratory studies of the effects of splenectomy in experimental animals have shown enhanced mortality after intravenous or intraperitoneal injection of pneumococci. In the present study the respiratory route was chosen because it more closely approximates the probable portal of entry of the infection which causes human pneumococcal disease. Ninety-one male Swiss mice (mean wt. 26 gms.) were divided into 3 groups; control, sham-operated and splenectomized. After 2 weeks they were exposed for 30 min. to an aerosolized atmosphere of 5.9 × 109 colony-forming units of Type III S. pneumoniae, using a Tri-R Model A42 Airborne Infection Apparatus (Tri-R Instruments, Inc., Rockville Centre, N.Y.). A statistically significant difference (P <.01) in mortality, over time, was observed between the splenectomized group and the pooled sham-operated and control groups. The animal model used in the investigation can be applied to the study of other phenomena such as the increased susceptibility to infection of alloxan diabetic mice (Hebert and Coil, presented at the Association for Academic Surgery, 11th Annual Meeting, Seattle. Nov. 3-5, 1977, p. 39).
(Supported in part by NIH Grant 1 R01 HL 20170-01)
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Pneumoniae, S., Dickerman, J., Coil, J. et al. 598 INCREASED MORTALITY, OVER TIME, OF ASPLENIC MICE EXPOSED TO AEROSOLIZED TYPE III. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 463 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00603
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00603
