Date of Defense

Fall 12-19-1987

Department

Biological Sciences

Keywords

pus

Abstract

Escherichia coli has been shown to be the cause of abscesses in several different locations in the human body. E. coli has been recovered from abscesses of the adrenal gland4, deep thigh muscles5, the lung8,13, transplanted kidney10, myocardium1 and abdomen11,12. The myocardial abscesses are generally not discovered until an autopsy is performed. The underlying cause of many abdominal absesses is surgery. This is particularly common in patients on immunosuppressive therapy14. The early stages of abscess development are not apparent by external examination and may be asymptomatic. Few studies of articially induced abscesses have dealt with the effects of E. coli as a sole agent of abscess formation. In this study polydextran or gelatin microcarriers were mixed with Escherichia coli and that mixture was used to form a highly reproducible subcutaneous abscesses in mice. The abscesses were large enough to be readily sampled and the use of gelatin microcarriers as abscess promoters permitted gentle enzymatic degradation of the abscesses, thus allowing cellular recovery and quantitation.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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