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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 2007, p. 3122-3130, Vol. 51, No. 9
0066-4804/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.01379-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Concanavalin A Protects Mice from a Lethal Inoculation of Intragastric Klebsiella pneumoniae and Reduces the Induced Liver Damage{triangledown}

Chih-Feng Kuo,1 Ya-Hui Wang,2 Huan-Yao Lei,2 Chiou-Huey Wang,3 and Nina Tsao4*

Departments of Nursing,1 Biological Science and Technology, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung County,4 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,2 Department of Clinical Pathology, E-DA Hospital, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan3

Received 3 November 2006/ Returned for modification 8 December 2006/ Accepted 22 June 2007

Intragastric inoculation of Klebsiella pneumoniae can cause invasive diseases, including necrosis of liver tissues and bacteremia. The effect of concanavalin A (ConA) on K. pneumoniae was tested. Pretreatment with ConA was able to protect mice from K. pneumoniae infection in an intragastric model. K. pneumoniae-induced mouse death and liver injury such as liver necrosis, as well as blood levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, were inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by ConA. ConA administered intravenously as late as 24 h after K. pneumoniae inoculation was still protective. In an in vitro assay, ConA was able to bind K. pneumoniae cells directly and further agglutinate them but had no effect on their in vitro growth. Surveys of bacterial counts of ConA-treated mice revealed that the bacteria were eliminated effectively in both blood and liver tissues. Furthermore, the bactericidal activity of macrophages against K. pneumoniae was also enhanced in a dose-dependent manner by ConA in an in vitro culture. These data suggest that ConA is a potentially therapeutic agent for K. pneumoniae-induced liver infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Science and Technology, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan. Phone: 886-7-6577711, ext. 3465. Fax: 886-7-2252051. E-mail: ninatsao{at}isu.edu.tw

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 July 2007.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 2007, p. 3122-3130, Vol. 51, No. 9
0066-4804/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.01379-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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