A Virulent Isolate, Which Causes Severe Bronchoconstriction in Porcine Precision-Cut Lung Slices.

causes disease in cattle, sheep, goats and swine, and is involved occasionally in human disease worldwide. Most reports implicating have been associated with clinical cases, whereas no report has focused on pathogenicity of in mouse models or precision-cut lung slice (PCLS) cultures from swine. Here, we isolated and identified a virulent, β-hemolytic, multidrug-resistant strain named 20121, which harbors the virulence marker genes and . It was found to be highly resistant to erythromycin, azithromycin and medemycin. Strain 20121 was pathogenic in mouse infection models, displaying pulmonary congestion and inflammatory cell infiltration, partial degeneration in epithelial cells of the tracheal and bronchiolar mucosa, a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration in the submucosa, and bacteria (>10 CFU/g) in the lung. Importantly, we used 20121 to infect porcine precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) cultures for the first time, where it caused severe bronchoconstriction. Furthermore, dexamethasone showed its ability to relieve bronchoconstriction in PCLS caused by 20121, highlighting dexamethasone may assist antibiotic treatment for clinical infection. This is the first report of used to infect and cause bronchoconstriction in porcine PCLS. Our results suggest that porcine PCLS cultures as a valuable 3D organ model for the study of infection and treatment .