Due to obvious ethical and technical reasons, it remains very difficult to evaluate the survival and expression of virulence genes of food-borne pathogens, such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in the human gastrointestinal tract. Here, we describe the use of the dynamic TNO (Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek) gastrointestinal model (TIM-1) as a powerful in vitro tool to obtain the kinetics of STEC survival by plate counting, the regulation of major virulence genes by RT-qPCR, and the production of Shiga toxins by ELISA, in the human stomach and small intestine. The gut model was adapted in order that in vitro digestions were performed both under adult and child digestive conditions, specific at risk populations for STEC infections.
Keywords: Human GIT; In vitro gut models; STEC; Shiga toxins; Survival; TIM-1; Virulence genes.