Static mucus impairs bacterial clearance and allows chronic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the cystic fibrosis rat.

ABSTRACT: Cystic fibrosis airway disease is characterised by chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Successful eradication strategies have been hampered by a poor understanding of the mechanisms underlying conversion to chronicity. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance receptor (CFTR)-knockout (KO) rat harbours a progressive defect in mucociliary transport and viscosity. KO rats were infected before and after the appearance of the mucus defect, using a clinical mucoid-isolate of P. aeruginosa embedded in agarose beads. Young KO rats that were exposed to bacteria before the development of mucociliary transport defects resolved the infection and subsequent tissue damage. However, older KO rats that were infected in the presence of hyperviscous and static mucus were unable to e

SUBMITTER: Henderson AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9944330 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature