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Severe cochlear inflammation and vestibular syndrome in an experimental model of Streptococcus suis infection in mice

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Abstract

Hearing impairment is a common and frequently permanent sequel of Streptococcus suis meningitis in humans. Nevertheless, mechanisms underlying the development of cochlear damage have not been addressed so far. In the present work, we characterized a mouse model of suppurative labyrinthitis and meningitis induced by a systemic infection with S. suis and studied the impact of the injected bacterial dosage on the progression of such inflammatory events. We observed that high infection doses of bacteria lead to sustained bacteremia, with an increase in the permeability of the blood–labyrinth and blood–brain barriers, causing suppurative labyrinthitis and meningitis, respectively. However, in mice infected with a low dose of S. suis, bacteria disappeared quickly from blood, hence, cochlear inflammation and meningitis were not consistent features. This model of S. suis infection seems ideal to evaluate novel drugs that may help alleviate the negative consequences of such important sequelae of S. suis-induced meningitis and labyrinthitis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. H. Pfister for his interest and helpful comments and Barbara Angele for the technical support (Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany). This work was supported by grants from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to M.G. (grant 154280 and Discovery Accelerator Supplement). The financial aid from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the University of Munich (FöFoLe), the Friedrich Baur Stiftung, and the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation (EKFS) to M.K. and U.K. is highly appreciated. M.C.D.P. is the recipient of an International Training Program Award from Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT).

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  1. M. C. Domínguez-Punaro

    Present address: Immunology-Oncology Section, Research Center, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Québec, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groupe de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses du Porc and Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada

    M. C. Domínguez-Punaro & M. Gottschalk

  2. Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany

    U. Koedel, T. Hoegen, C. Demel & M. Klein

  3. Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, 3200 Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, J2S 2M2, Canada

    M. Gottschalk

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  1. M. C. Domínguez-Punaro
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  2. U. Koedel
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  3. T. Hoegen
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Correspondence to M. Gottschalk.

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Domínguez-Punaro, M.C., Koedel, U., Hoegen, T. et al. Severe cochlear inflammation and vestibular syndrome in an experimental model of Streptococcus suis infection in mice. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 31, 2391–2400 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1581-2

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