Effect of iron on the recovery of viable bacteria from the cardiac blood in an experimental mouse model and on the serum resistance and macrophage phagocytosis of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

The role of iron in the pathogenesis of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, an intestinal pathogen, is not clearly understood. In an intraperitoneally infected mouse model, viable bacteria of a Kanagawa-negative food isolate CCRC12958 and a Kanagawa-positive clinical isolate ST550 of V. parahaemolyticus were rapidly recovered from the cardiac blood before the death of these animals. Iron-limitation during the preparation of bacterial culture decreased the appearance of CCRC12958 strain in the cardiac blood, and this effect was compensated for by the addition of complementary iron during infection, This phenomenon may be related to the survival and multiplication of this pathogen in 50% murine serum and in phagocytosis by murine peritoneal macrophages. However, the effect of iron-limitation on the serum survival of this pathogen was strain-dependent, and the resistance to phagocytosis was not significant.