Fig. 9
In vivo characterization of the influence of phage vB_PaeP_PS28 on P. aeruginosa pathogenesis in mice infection model. a Survival curves of mice infected with P. aeruginosa and treated with isolated phage. Mice in first group were infected with P. aeruginosa (2.5 × 107 CFU/mL), mice in second group were injected with vB_PaeP_PS28 (2.5 × 109 PFU/mL) and mice in third group were infected with P. aeruginosa and treated with the phage vB_PaeP_PS28. Uninfected and PBS-injected mice served as negative controls. Mice survival was monitored in each group daily for 4 days and plotted using Kaplan–Meier survival curve. Bacterial burden and phage titers were determined in liver (b) and spleen (c) of infected mice. Mice were anesthetized, liver and spleen were obtained and homogenized for enumeration of CFU and PFU at 24, 48, 72 h post infection. Of note that, bacterial load in P. aeruginosa infected mice was determined at 24 h post infection only as all mice in this group died after 24 h. Bacterial and phage load were represented on left and right y axis, respectively. Data are expressed as means ± SE of three independent experiments