Galleria mellonella Invertebrate Model Mirrors the Pathogenic Potential of Mycoplasma alligatoris within the Natural Host

Figure 3

Weight loss (a) and bacterial colonization (b) in alligators infected intravenously with M. alligatoris. For infectious dose 10², 10⁴, and 10⁶ groups, n = 5; for 10⁸ group, n = 6. Alligators were necropsied at time of euthanasia or 28 days postinfection. (a) The starting baseline weight is shown by the dashed line; all data are expressed in percentage of the starting body weight. denotes last time point animal was weighed prior to euthanasia due to clinical criteria or mortality event. Note that in the 10⁸ infectious dose, only one animal survived to the 14-day time point. (b) Culture results are shown for blood, brain, elbow, and knee. Both left and right joint sites are shown. All data are expressed as log CCU. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA; significant differences among groups were determined with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. p values < 0.05 are shown. A linear trend was found for all sites ().

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