Effects of Salmonella enterica serovars Typhimurium (ST) and Choleraesuis (SC) on chemokine and cytokine expression in swine ileum and jejunal epithelial cells

The gastrointestinal epithelium represents a barrier to potentially invasive enteric pathogens, maintains a role in innate immune surveillance, and is a source of both chemokine and cytokine chemotactic mediators in response to bacterial invasion. In the current study, we evaluated cytokine and chemokine mediators known to regulate movement of macrophages (macrophage migration inhibitory factor; MIF), neutrophils (IL8), dendritic cells (CCL20), and epithelial remodeling (osteopontin; OPN) in response to invasive swine enteropathogens Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) or Choleraesuis (SC). For the in vivo experiment, weaned pigs served as uninfected controls (0 h) or were given 3 × 109 CFU ST orally. Pigs were sacrificed at 8, 24, 48, and 144 h after inoculation and total RNA was extracted from defined segments of proximal (PI) and distal (DI) ileum. Relative expression of MIF and OPN were not affected by ST. IL8 expression was increased numerically (P = 0.17 for the interaction term) at 24 and 144 h in the PI and these increases accounted for greater expression in the PI relative to the DI (P < 0.05). Relative expression of CCL20 was increased at 24 h after ST (P < 0.05). Next, we evaluated the time course of MIF, IL8, CCL20, and OPN mRNA expression induced by application of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), ST or SC in vitro using pig jejunal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2). Cells were grown to confluency on permeable membranes, and treated apically with LPS (10 ng/mL), ST or SC (108/well). After 1 h, cells were washed to remove LPS or extracellular bacteria, and media containing gentamicin was added to kill remaining extracellular bacteria. Media and RNA were collected at 1.5, 3, and 6 h after treatment. MIF mRNA was not affected by LPS or bacterial treatment. Similarly, IL8 expression was not affected by LPS, but was increased by ST and SC relative to controls at 1.5 and 3 h post exposure (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). Treatment with SC increased CCL20 mRNA relative to controls at 3 h (P < 0.05), while ST increased CCL20 at 1.5, 3, and 6 h with maximal expression at 6 h (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). ST and SC increased polarized IL8 secretion. Our data demonstrate that invasive bacterial pathogens in the pig gastrointestinal tract trigger upregulation of selected cytokine and chemokine mediators, but serovars of Salmonella elicited differing patterns of activation in vitro.