Impact of infection on pregnancy in the mouse.

The intracellular bacterium , which belongs to the order, was found to be associated with miscarriage in humans. There is little to no knowledge regarding the mode of infection, impact on the neonate and pathophysiology of this emerging bacterium. We have previously shown that induces a systemic infection, organ pathology and elicits T helper type 1-associated humoral immunity in a murine model of genital infection. In the present study, we took advantage of this model of infection to evaluate the impact of this bacterium on the mouse pregnancy. We used two routes of inoculation, vaginal and intrauterine, to introduce infection before and after mating. Our results show that genital infection by did not have any significant impact on gestation length and maternal weight gain, nor on the number of offspring and their weight. This observation indicates that the mouse model of infection is not suitable to study the effect of on pregnancy and alternative models of infection, including ones, should be used. Moreover, an indirect immunopathological mechanism activated by this bacterium should be further explored.