Influence of iron on Corynebacterium renale-induced pyelonephritis in a rat experimental model.

Growth of Corynebacterium renale in vitro on low-iron medium (1.34 micron) was only slightly less than that on high-iron media (7.16 and 9.85 micron). However, studies on C. renale-induced pyelonephritis using the rat as an experimental model revealed that C. renale cultivated in high-iron media was capable of producing pyelonephritis, but when grown on low-iron medium, these bacteria were noninfective. This apparent avirulence of the bacteria cultivated on low levels of iron could be reversed by injecting the rats intramuscularly with ferric ammonium citrate.