Experimental Rat model for Corynebacterium renale-induced pyelonephritis.

The laboratory rat was able to serve as a model for ascending pyelonephritis after implantation of a zinc disk coated with Corynebacterium renale into the urinary bladder because it satisfied three different criteria for infection. The production of an alkaline urine and the presence of significant numbers of C. renale in the kidneys, as well as distinct pyelonephritic lesions as revealed by histological examination, were observed in all rats infected with C. renale. Control rats that harbored sterile disks in their urinary bladders exhibited none of the above effects.