Abstract

Purpose

Females and males respond differently to a number of systemic viral infections. Differences between females and males with respect to the severity of keratitis caused by Gram-negative bacteria such as Serratia marcescens are less well established.

Methods

In this study we injected female and male New Zealand White rabbit corneas with a keratitis isolate of S. marcescens and evaluated the eyes after 48 hours for a number of clinical and microbiological parameters.

Results

No statistical differences in bacterial burden and corneal scores were recorded between female and male rabbits although there was a non-significant trend toward a higher frequency of female rabbits demonstrating hypopyons.

Conclusions

This data suggests that for experimental bacterial keratitis studies involving Gram-negative rods, a single sex or mixed group of rabbit is sufficient for evaluating pathology and bacterial burdens. This will reduce the number of animals used for subsequent studies.

中文翻译：

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细菌性角膜炎：感染粘质沙雷氏菌的雌性和雄性新西兰白兔的细菌和临床结果相似

摘要

目的

女性和男性对多种全身性病毒感染的反应不同。在革兰氏阴性菌如粘质沙雷氏菌引起的角膜炎严重程度方面，女性和男性之间的差异尚不清楚。

方法

在这项研究中，我们给雌性和雄性新西兰白兔角膜注射了粘质链球菌的角膜炎分离物，并在 48 小时后评估了眼睛的一些临床和微生物参数。

结果

雌性和雄性兔子之间没有记录到细菌负荷和角膜评分的统计差异，尽管雌性兔子表现出前房积脓的频率更高的趋势并不显着。

结论

该数据表明，对于涉及革兰氏阴性杆菌的实验性细菌性角膜炎研究，单一性别或混合兔群足以评估病理学和细菌负荷。这将减少用于后续研究的动物数量。