Methods of a Reproducible Mouse Model of Clostridioides difficile Infection to Investigate Novel Bacterial-Based Therapies

Katya Douchant; Jill Greenlaw; Prameet M Sheth

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-4627-4_9

Methods of a Reproducible Mouse Model of Clostridioides difficile Infection to Investigate Novel Bacterial-Based Therapies

Methods Mol Biol. 2025:2942:103-116. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4627-4_9.

Authors

Katya Douchant^{1

2}, Jill Greenlaw^{2

3}, Prameet M Sheth^{4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
² Gastrointestinal Disease Research Unit (GIDRU), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
³ Translational Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. Prameet.Sheth@queensu.ca.
⁵ Gastrointestinal Disease Research Unit (GIDRU), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. Prameet.Sheth@queensu.ca.
⁶ Translational Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. Prameet.Sheth@queensu.ca.
⁷ Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. Prameet.Sheth@queensu.ca.

PMID: 40498310
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4627-4_9

Abstract

Mice are widely used in science and have played an instrumental role in understanding immune mechanisms, testing cancer therapies, and serving as model systems to better understand physiological processess. Mouse models have also been widely used in infectious disease research including in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Mice display similar disease characteristics to human CDI, including susceptibility to disease, clinical symptoms, and pathology, and thus are an ideal in vivo model to investigate treatments. Here we describe a reliable, reproducible model of CDI that allows researchers to investigate the use of prophylactic oral treatments for CDI in mice. Using this model, we report on treatment efficacy using several parameters as a measure of CDI, including survival, bodyweight, colon length, and colonic histology.

Keywords: Clostridioides difficile; Histology; Infection; Mouse model; Toxin.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / pharmacology
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / therapeutic use
Clostridioides difficile* / drug effects
Clostridioides difficile* / pathogenicity
Clostridium Infections* / drug therapy
Clostridium Infections* / microbiology
Clostridium Infections* / pathology
Colon / microbiology
Colon / pathology
Disease Models, Animal*
Humans
Mice

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents