Pathogenesis and immune response in listeriosis of pregnant rabbits

Listeria monocytogenes and listeric infections.

“…Gray et al (84) and Hahnefeld and Hahnefeld (95) reported almost identical results with orally exposed pregnant rabbits and goats. The same was true for conjunctival exposure of pregnant rabbits reported by Gray et al (84) and Miller and Muraschi (159), indicating that the results of exposure are highly reproducible. It also indicated that the gravid uterus is highly vulnerable to insult by either of the channels of infection, that the gravid uterus is highly susceptible to infection with L. monocytogenes, that the uterine contents are primary foci of infection, that only small numbers of organisms are required to initiate infection of the pregnant uterus, and that conjunctivitis which develops from conjunctival instillation of L. monocytogenes is not a local reaction as often supposed.…”

“…There is no record of further attempts to produce listeric abortion under laboratory conditions until the almost simultaneous but independent studies of Potel (84) on guinea pigs and mice, of Hahnefeld and Hahnefeld (95) on rabbits and goats, of Osebold and Inouye (186) on rabbits, and of Gray et al (84) on rabbits, goats, sheep, and a cow. Subsequent studies on pregnant rats were reported by Payne (198) and by Schultz (234), on rabbits by Suchanova et al (259), on cows by Osebold et al (188), on sheep by Mollelo and Jensen (159a), and on rabbits by Miller and Muraschi (159). Exposure included such realistic routes as oral (84, 95), conjunctival (84,159), and intravaginal (84,186), and such unrealistic ones as intravenous (188, 159a), intraperitoneal (198), via the vena cava or aorta (234), and intraperitoneal implantation of collodion sacs containing the bacterium (259).…”

“…Subsequent studies on pregnant rats were reported by Payne (198) and by Schultz (234), on rabbits by Suchanova et al (259), on cows by Osebold et al (188), on sheep by Mollelo and Jensen (159a), and on rabbits by Miller and Muraschi (159). Exposure included such realistic routes as oral (84, 95), conjunctival (84,159), and intravaginal (84,186), and such unrealistic ones as intravenous (188, 159a), intraperitoneal (198), via the vena cava or aorta (234), and intraperitoneal implantation of collodion sacs containing the bacterium (259). It must be admitted that some investigators who used unrealistic methods were not concerned primarily with mere production of abortion, but rather in the general mechanism of abortion, and they presented well-defined reasons for employing the methods chosen (198,234,259).…”

“…Several German and Czechoslovakian microbiologists postulated that a filterable or L form actually crosses the placenta in perinatal listeric infection, since the placenta is refractory in invasion by most bacterial cells. The proposal is questionable, since a preponderance of evidence indicates that L. monocytogenes can very quickly penetrate the placental barrier (84,95,159,198,223,234,235). Nevertheless, Suchanova et al (259) initiated a series of studies by implanting collodion sacs with a pore size smaller than L. monocytogenes cells into the peritoneal cavities of pregnant and nonpregnant rabbits.…”

β-Hemolytic Gram-Negative Hemophilic Bacillus Isolated from the Genitalia of Rabbits

“…The microorganism was never recovered from the expelled or retained fetuses examined. Peripheral placentitis was less extensive and severe than the purulent panmetritis and necrotizing placentitis induced by L. monocytogenes (9).…”