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Depletion of lymphocytes, but not neutrophils, via apoptosis in a murine model of Vibrio vulnificus infection

^1,2Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health¹, and Laboratory of Veterinary Anatomy², School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Kitasato University, Higashi 23-35-1, Towada Aomori 034-8628, Japan ³Department of Molecular Immunology, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

Correspondence Takashige Kashimoto kashimot{at}vmas.kitasato-u.ac.jp

Received August 12, 2004
Accepted October 1, 2004

Vibrio vulnificus causes severe sepsis in humans. There are several reports about the relationship between host immunity and bacterial growth in V. vulnificus infection. However, the effect on leukocytes of V. vulnificus infection in vivo has not been elucidated. A murine model of V. vulnificus infection was used to investigate its effects on leukocytes in this study. Bacteria were recovered from the blood of mice 3 h after subcutaneous injection in the right lower flank. They were detected in 87.5 % (n = 7/8) of mice at 6 h, but this value decreased to 12.5 % (n = 1/8) at 12 h. In contrast, the number of lymphocytes in peripheral blood had already started to decrease at 3 h, and reached a minimum at 6–9 h post-inoculation. Typical DNA laddering, a hallmark of apoptosis, was also detected in thymocytes and splenocytes at 6 and 9 h, and showed a tendency to disappear by 12 h. Although the number of lymphocytes decreased in the model, the numbers of neutrophils did not. These results suggested that V. vulnificus has selective cytotoxicity for lymphocytes in peripheral blood in vivo, and the lymphocyte depletion was probably associated with apoptosis in vivo.

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