Pathogenesis of respiratory Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in rats: bacteriological and histological findings and metabolic alterations.

Gram-negative bacterial pneumonias have been increasingly important as nosocomial infections. The following model was developed to study the pathogenesis and evaluate therapy of such infections. Intranasal instillation of rats with a suspension of 5 x 10(6) Klebsiella pneumoniae caused bronchopneumonia with 24 h. Bacteria were isolated from the lungs in large numbers (greater than 10(5) colony-forming units [CFU] for at least 13 days after inoculation. Thereafter, the viable concentration decreased to about 10(3) CFU at 21 days but increased to 10(4) CFU at 25 days. Mortality rarely exceeded 25%. Plasma zinc concentration decreased, and plasma seromucoid, lysozyme, and alpha2-macrofetoprotein increased during respiratory K. pneumoniae infection in rats. There seemed to be a linear relationship between seromucoid concentration and the concentration of K. pneumoniae in the lung expressed in log10 units. Plasma zinc, alpha2-macrofetoprtoein, or lysozyme levels, however, did not change until the concentration of bacteria retrieved fron lungs exceeded 4 to 5 logs, Analysis of blood samples obtained serially from the orbital sinuses revealed that rats that succumbed to infection had significantly higher levels of seromucoid, alpha2-macrofetoprotein, and lysozyme and lower levels of plasma zinc than infected rats that survived. Progressive increases in seromucoid and particularly in lysozyme and alpha2-macrofetoprotein appeared to be predicative of death. It is postulated that the threshold effect observed for alpha2-macrofetoprotein and lysozyme reflect significant damage to lung tissue, and thus these two variables are good indexes of the severity of this infection. We propose that this model may be of value in elucidating the pathogenesis of respiratory K. pneumoniae as well as in assessing various models of therapy.