Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile Gram-positive bacterial pathogen that can cause a multitude of human diseases such as life-threatening nosocomial infections, allergenic reactions and symptom-free colonisation (Otto 2014).
It was his son, Leopold II, a conspicuous figure sporting a large white beard, who ordered Sir Henry Morton Stanley, a British-American explorer, to venture into the Congo river basin, paving the way for Leopold's Congo Free State and the further colonisation of the African continent.MATTIAS CREFFIERGhent, Belgium.
Colonisation of germ-free mice is associated with profound morphological changes in the small intestine such as shortening and widening of the villus, 5 increased vascularisation, 6 recruitment of lymphocytes 7 and activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems.
Indeed, we note significant overlap between transcripts upregulated in CD4+ LPL TEM cells and previous reports of the transcriptional changes induced in murine CD4+ LPL after colonisation of germ-free mice.
Differential expression was evaluated in each tissue by calculating two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) p values, including a test for interaction, using colonisation status (germ-free or conventionally raised) and genotype (Myd88−/− or wild type) as independent variables.
60 61 Transient perturbation of the microbiota with antimicrobials alters brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, exploratory behaviour and colonisation of germ-free mice suggesting that intestinal microbiota impact is not limited to the gut and the immune system, but may involve the central nervous system.
Specifically, invariant natural killer T cells, that can secrete Th2 cytokines, accumulate in germ-free mice affecting the pattern of colonisation with a gut microbiota from conventionally raised animals (Olszak et al, 2012).
Following up on this observation, the authors demonstrated that colonisation of young germ-free mice with microbiota from conventionally reared mice produces a 60% increase in body fat mass that is associated with increased insulin resistance, despite lower energy intake.
Long chain unsaturated free fatty acids represent a barrier to colonisation and infection by S. aureus and act as an antimicrobial component of the innate immune system where they are found on epithelial surfaces and in abscesses.
It is aimed at those who resent "Coca-Colonisation," but who like the free and easy image Coke conveys.
No differences in plasma levels of free fatty acids or triglycerides were observed with colonisation (data not shown) and no difference in food intake was seen (data not shown).
