Yamamoto Kazuhiro, Chomel Bruno B, Kasten Rickie W, Hew Carrie M, Weber David K, Lee Wilson I, Droz Sara, Koehler Jane E
Department of Population Health and Reproduction, Center for Companion Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Feb;40(2):466-74. doi: 10.1128/JCM.40.2.466-474.2002.
Bartonella koehlerae, a recently described feline Bartonella species, was isolated from two naturally infected cats in northern California. We experimentally infected domestic cats with B. koehlerae to establish the microbiological and immunological characteristics of this infection in cats and to compare it to infections with those caused by B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae. Four cats were inoculated intradermally with B. koehlerae (8.6 x 10(7) to 3.84 x 10(8) CFU/ml). None of the cats presented any obvious clinical signs, but all cats developed bacteremia, which peaked at 3.36 x 10(4) to 1.44 x 10(6) CFU/ml of blood between day 14 and day 36 postinoculation. B. koehlerae-inoculated cats had a bacteremia duration (mean, 74 days) shorter than did cats inoculated with B. clarridgeiae (mean, 324 days) (P = 0.03). None of the four cats inoculated with B. koehlerae had bacteremia relapse. As shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using B. koehlerae outer membrane protein (OMP) antigens, the four cats developed a species-specific antibody response, and ELISA testing using other feline Bartonella OMP antigens showed statistically lower optical density values. All four cats developed similar antibody reactivity patterns to B. koehlerae OMP antigens as seen by Western blotting, each with at least 20 seroreactive protein bands. Using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, protein profile differences were observed for both whole-cell lysate and OMPs from B. koehlerae, compared with B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae. B. koehlerae was more closely related to B. henselae than to B. clarridgeiae by protein profile, and this relatedness was also confirmed by analysis of the genomic DNA profiles by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
科氏巴尔通体是一种最近才被描述的猫巴尔通体菌种，从加利福尼亚州北部的两只自然感染的猫身上分离得到。我们用科氏巴尔通体对家猫进行实验性感染，以确定猫感染这种病菌后的微生物学和免疫学特征，并将其与由汉赛巴尔通体和克拉氏巴尔通体引起的感染进行比较。四只猫经皮内接种科氏巴尔通体（8.6×10⁷至3.84×10⁸CFU/ml）。没有一只猫出现任何明显的临床症状，但所有猫都出现了菌血症，在接种后第14天至第36天之间，菌血症峰值达到每毫升血液3.36×10⁴至1.44×10⁶CFU。接种科氏巴尔通体的猫的菌血症持续时间（平均74天）比接种克拉氏巴尔通体的猫（平均324天）短（P = 0.03）。接种科氏巴尔通体的四只猫均未出现菌血症复发。使用科氏巴尔通体外膜蛋白（OMP）抗原进行酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）显示，这四只猫产生了种特异性抗体反应，而使用其他猫巴尔通体OMP抗原进行ELISA检测显示，光密度值在统计学上较低。通过蛋白质印迹法观察到，所有四只猫对科氏巴尔通体OMP抗原产生了相似的抗体反应模式，每只猫至少有20条血清反应性蛋白带。使用十二烷基硫酸钠-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳，与汉赛巴尔通体和克拉氏巴尔通体相比，观察到科氏巴尔通体全细胞裂解物和OMP的蛋白质谱存在差异。通过蛋白质谱分析，科氏巴尔通体与汉赛巴尔通体的关系比与克拉氏巴尔通体的关系更密切，脉冲场凝胶电泳分析基因组DNA谱也证实了这种相关性。
