Metabolic responses to Orientia tsutsugamushi infection in a mouse model

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Jan 8;9(1):e3427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003427. eCollection 2015 Jan.

Abstract

Tsutsugamushi disease is an infectious disease transmitted to humans through the bite of the Orientia tsutsugamushi-infected chigger mite; however, host-pathogen interactions and the precise mechanisms of damage in O. tsutsugamushi infections have not been fully elucidated. Here, we analyzed the global metabolic effects of O. tsutsugamushi infection on the host using 1H-NMR and UPLC-Q-TOF mass spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis. In addition, the effect of O. tsutsugamushi infection on metabolite concentrations over time was analyzed by two-way ANOVAs. Orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) showed distinct metabolic patterns between control and O. tsutsugamushi-infected mice in liver, spleen, and serum samples. O. tsutsugamushi infection caused decreased energy production and deficiencies in both remethylation sources and glutathione. In addition, O. tsutsugamushi infection accelerated uncommon energy production pathways (i.e., excess fatty acid and protein oxidation) in host body. Infection resulted in an enlarged spleen with distinct phospholipid and amino acid characteristics. This study suggests that metabolite profiling of multiple organ tissues and serum could provide insight into global metabolic changes and mechanisms of pathology in O. tsutsugamushi-infected hosts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Female
  • Fibroblasts
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Orientia tsutsugamushi / physiology*
  • Scrub Typhus / metabolism*
  • Scrub Typhus / pathology
  • Spleen

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning, Korea (2010-0019394 and 2013M3A9B6046418), Korea Basic Science Institute (C34705), the Creative Allied Project (CAP), and an intramural grant from the National Institute of Health (2010-N52001-00). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.