Figure 3

Kinetics of bacterial organ colonization in different inbred mouse strains after intragastric infection challenge with Lmo-EGD-lux and Lmo-InlA-mur-lux. Female C3HeB/FeJ (A,B), A/J OlaHsd (C,D), BALB/cJ (E,F) and C57BL/6J (G,H) were intragastrically challenged with 5 × 10⁹ CFU Lmo-EGD-lux (open symbols) or Lmo-InlA-mur-lux (filled symbols). At indicated times post infection a group of 8 mice were sacrificed and organs (small intestine, mesenteric lymph nodes = MLN, liver, spleen, gallbladder and brain) were prepared, homogenized and plated on BHI agar plates and CFU/mg organ was determined. Mean CFU (horizontal lines) with standard error of the mean are shown on day 3 (left column) and day 5 (right column) post infection. Note, on day 5 p.i. most of the C3HeB/FeJ mice had already been euthanized due to development of severe listeriosis. Significant differences between Lmo-EGD-lux and Lmo-InlA-mur-lux bacterial tissue loads are indicated as *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 (data represent means ± SEM, non-parametric Mann–Whitney-U-test). Data are representative of two independent experiments.