Battaglia Michael, Garrett-Sinha Lee Ann
Department of Biochemistry, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14203, USA.
Lab Anim Res. 2023 Aug 2;39(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s42826-023-00169-0.
Skin ulcers, skin dermatitis and skin infections are common phenomena in colonies of laboratory mice and are often found at increased prevalence in certain immunocompromised strains. While in many cases these skin conditions are mild, in other cases they can be severe and lead to animal morbidity. Furthermore, the presence of skin infections and ulcerations can complicate the interpretation of experimental protocols, including those examining immune cell activation. Bacterial species in the genus Staphylococcus are the most common pathogens recovered from skin lesions in mice. In particular, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus xylosus have both been implicated as pathogens on murine skin. Staphylococcus aureus is a well-known pathogen of human skin, but S. xylosus skin infections in humans have not been described, indicating that there is a species-specific difference in the ability of S. xylosus to serve as a skin pathogen. The aim of this review is to summarize studies that link S. aureus and S. xylosus to skin infections of mice and to describe factors involved in their adherence to tissue and their virulence. We discuss potential differences in mouse and human skin that might underlie the ability of S. xylosus to act as a pathogen on murine skin, but not human skin. Finally, we also describe mouse mutants that have shown increased susceptibility to skin infections with staphylococcal bacteria. These mutants point to pathways that are important in the control of commensal staphylococcal bacteria. The information here may be useful to researchers who are working with mouse strains that are prone to skin infections with staphylococcal bacteria.
皮肤溃疡、皮肤皮炎和皮肤感染是实验小鼠群体中的常见现象，在某些免疫受损品系中其发生率往往更高。虽然在许多情况下这些皮肤状况较为轻微，但在其他情况下可能会很严重并导致动物发病。此外，皮肤感染和溃疡的存在会使实验方案的解读变得复杂，包括那些检测免疫细胞激活的方案。葡萄球菌属中的细菌是从小鼠皮肤损伤中分离出的最常见病原体。特别是，金黄色葡萄球菌和木糖葡萄球菌都被认为是小鼠皮肤的病原体。金黄色葡萄球菌是人类皮肤的一种知名病原体，但尚未有关于人类木糖葡萄球菌皮肤感染的描述，这表明木糖葡萄球菌作为皮肤病原体的能力存在物种特异性差异。本综述的目的是总结将金黄色葡萄球菌和木糖葡萄球菌与小鼠皮肤感染联系起来的研究，并描述它们黏附于组织及其毒力所涉及的因素。我们讨论了小鼠和人类皮肤之间可能存在的潜在差异，这些差异可能是木糖葡萄球菌能够在小鼠皮肤而非人类皮肤上成为病原体的基础。最后，我们还描述了对葡萄球菌皮肤感染易感性增加的小鼠突变体。这些突变体指出了在控制共生葡萄球菌方面重要的途径。这里的信息可能对研究易发生葡萄球菌皮肤感染的小鼠品系的研究人员有用。
