Assessing Bacterial Burden in the Mouse Spleen for Infection Studies

Source: Madenspacher, J. H. and Fessler, M. B. A Non-invasive and Technically Non-intensive Method for Induction and Phenotyping of Experimental Bacterial Pneumonia in Mice. J. Vis. Exp. (2016)This video demonstrates the process of quantifying bacterial load in the spleen of an infected mouse to assess the severity of infection. The homogenized spleen is serially diluted and plated to determine total bacterial burden. The resulting data provide insights into host-pathogen interactions within systemic tissue.