June 2023
Volume 64, Issue 8
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2023
Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin contributes to increased incidence in a murine model of experimental endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Phillip S Coburn
    Ophthalmology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
    Dean McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • Austin LaGrow
    Ophthalmology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
    Dean McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • Aaron Parrott
    Ophthalmology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
    Dean McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • Frederick Christian Miller
    Cell Biology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • Michelle C Callegan
    Ophthalmology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
    Dean McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Phillip Coburn None; Austin LaGrow None; Aaron Parrott None; Frederick Miller None; Michelle Callegan None
  • Footnotes
    Support  NIH R01 EY032073, NIH P30 EY021725, Unrestricted grant to the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute from Research to Prevent Blindness Inc.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2023, Vol.64, 158. doi:
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      Phillip S Coburn, Austin LaGrow, Aaron Parrott, Frederick Christian Miller, Michelle C Callegan; Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin contributes to increased incidence in a murine model of experimental endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2023;64(8):158.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose : To test the hypothesis that Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin contributes to the development of endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis (EBE).

Methods : A murine model of S. aureus EBE was utilized to evaluate the contribution of alpha-toxin to infection incidence. Groups of C57BL/6J mice were tail vein-injected with 108 colony-forming units (cfu) of either the wild type S. aureus strain 8325-4 or the isogenic alpha-toxin mutant 8325-4Δhla. After 4 days postinfection, all mice were euthanized and both left and right eyes harvested to evaluate the incidence of EBE by bacterial counts.

Results : The incidence of EBE among mice tail vein-injected with S. aureus 8325-4 was significantly higher than among mice injected with the alpha-toxin mutant 8325-4Δhla, with 64% of eyes infected in the 8325-4 group versus 34% in the 8325-4Δhla group (p = 0.00493). Infected eyes in the 8325-4 group also had significantly higher cfu counts than infected eyes in the 8325-4Δhla group, with a mean cfu/eye of 4.9 x 102 in the 8325-4 group versus 6.8 x 101 for the 8325-4Δhla group (p = 0.0307).

Conclusions : These results demonstrated a higher incidence of EBE among mice intravenously injected with wild type S. aureus relative to mice injected with an isogenic mutant specifically deficient in alpha-toxin production. This suggests that alpha-toxin contributes to the virulence of S. aureus in this model, and that alpha-toxin facilitates EBE development, possibly through disruption of the blood retinal barrier.

This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.

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