Based on TLR4-NLRP3-IL-1β inflammatory pathway: Comparison of necrotizing enterocolitis induced by different classes of antibiotic-induced Cronobacter sakazakii

Cronobacter sakazakii is a facultative anaerobic gram-negative pathogen that has attracted widespread attention for causing necrotizing enterocolitis in infants (premature and low-weight newborns) by contaminating powdered infant formula. Several studies have found that the antibiotic tolerance of Cronobacter sakazakii isolated from food sources is increasing, thereby markedly increasing the difficulty of clinical treatment of Cronobacter sakazakii infection. At present, most studies are focused on clarifying the pathogenicity of Cronobacter sakazakii , but there is still a gap in the study of necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal rats caused by Cronobacter sakazakii with different antibiotic tolerance. To fill this gap, we analyzed and compared the ability of Cronobacter sakazakii induced by different classes of antibiotics to induce necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal rats by mediating TLR4-NLRP3-IL-1β pathway. In the results, Cronobacter sakazakii acquired tolerance to aminoglycosides, quinolones and cephalosporins, and caused more inflammatory damage in neonatal rats, improved the ability of mediating TLR4-NLRP3-IL-1β pathway to induce necrotizing enterocolitis. Compared with the XS001 group, the NEC scores of neonatal rats in XS001-Amp, XS001-Ami, XS001-Ofl and XS001-Ceo groups were increased by 8.3%, 58.3%, 50.0% and 58.3%. The acquisition of penicillin and tetracycline tolerance had little effect on the ability of Cronobacter sakazakii to induce necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal rats. The ability of Cronobacter sakazakii to induce necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal rats was significantly different due to the type and tolerance of antibiotics.