Meeting Abstract
P3.94 Wednesday, Jan. 6 Escherichia coli ATCC # 25922 induces an inflammatory response in adult Rana pipiens JONES, Ashley/L*; THOMSON, Amy/M; KOZAKOWSKI, Michelle; KYPRIANOU, Rachel; VATNICK, Itzick; BRODKIN, Marc; Widener University ivatnick@widener.edu
The inflammatory response is an early and essential component of both the innate and adaptive immune responses. We have examined the effect of environmental pollutants on the amphibian innate immune response by stimulating frogs with the experimental inflammatory mediator thioglycollate. Although this has worked well as an experimental protocol we present here a method to assess a bacterial-induced inflammatory response using Escherichia coli. However, not all strains of Escherichia coli induce a response as measured by the number of white blood cells(WBCs)in peritoneal exudates. We present data using Escherichia coli ATCC # 25922, a strain that induced a response. Our results demonstrate a dose response using dilutions from 104 to 106 bacteria per ml. In frogs injected with bacteria we observed both an increase in the number of peritoneal WBCs and their phagocytic activity as compared to frogs injected with Ringer solution. We are in the process of examining the genetic mechanisms controlling this response using DNA microarray chips. Although DNA microarrays have been used to study the development of amphibians, to our knowledge we are the first to use DNA microarrays to probe the genetic basis of the inflammatory response in amphibians.
