Engraftment of sheep splenic lymphocytes into NBSGW mice and application in Brucella infection.

BACKGROUND

The development of immune reconstituted xenograft mouse models has addressed the limitations imposed by interspecies immunological differences in disease research. However, mouse models reconstituted with a sheep immune system remain largely unexplored.

METHODS

In this study, we successfully established a sheep splenocyte-reconstituted mouse model (Sh-Spl mice) by intravenously transplanting ovine splenocytes into severely immunodeficient NBSGW mice, and evaluated the efficiency of immune reconstitution.

RESULTS

Results showed that ovine-derived CD45+, CD4+, and CD8+ cells were detectable in the peripheral blood of Sh-Spl mice for an extended period (up to 13 weeks), and these cells were also distributed in the spleen, liver, and bone marrow. Furthermore, upon intraperitoneal infection with Brucella melitensis, Sh-Spl mice exhibited characteristic pathological alterations and bacterial colonization, confirming the successful establishment of the infection model.

CONCLUSIONS

The sheep immune system-reconstituted mouse model developed in this study, combined with subsequent pathogen challenge, provides a novel experimental platform for investigating the pathogenesis of sheep-hosted pathogens and developing prevention and control strategies.