Bread Feeding Is a Robust and More Physiological Enteropathogen Administration Method Compared to Oral Gavage

Abstract

Oral administration is a preferred model for studying infection by bacterial enteropathogens such as Yersinia spp. In the mouse model, the most frequent method for oral infection consists of oral gavage with a feeding needle directly introduced in the animal stomach via the esophagus. In this study, we compared needle gavage to bread feeding as an alternative mode of bacterial administration. Using bioluminescence-expressing strains of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica , we detected very early upon needle gavage a bioluminescent signal in the neck area together with a signal in the abdominal region, highlighting the presence of two independent sites of bacterial colonization and multiplication.