{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T12:08:28Z","timestamp":1777637308075,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Chlamydia suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    is an obligate intracellular bacterium endemic in pig populations and is detected in the gastrointestinal tract, suggesting that the intestine may be an important site of chlamydial colonization. Despite this, intestinal chlamydial infections remain poorly understood, largely due to the lack of models that accurately mimic the interaction of\n                    <jats:italic>C. suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    with the gut epithelium. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether porcine jejunum-derived enteroids constitute a suitable\n                    <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                    model to investigate intestinal infection by\n                    <jats:italic>C. suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    and to compare infection dynamics with the closely related human pathogen\n                    <jats:italic>Chlamydia trachomatis<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Porcine enteroid monolayers were exposed to\n                    <jats:italic>C. suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and bacterial uptake, inclusion formation, and replication were assessed using microscopy-based and molecular approaches. Both\n                    <jats:italic>C. suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic>\n                    efficiently attached to primary intestinal epithelial cells and formed intracellular inclusions, indicating successful bacterial uptake and early intracellular survival. Infection levels increased in a dose-dependent manner, confirming that enteroid-derived monolayers are suitable for studying early host\u2013pathogen interactions. Furthermore, treatment with tetracycline reduced\n                    <jats:italic>C. suis<\/jats:italic>\n                    inclusion formation and extracellular bacterial release, thereby functionally confirming that an active infection had been established and that the model responded as expected to antibiotic treatment. However, unlike the McCoy cell model which supports productive bacterial replication, enteroid cultures did not exhibit a significant increase in intracellular bacterial load over time. Despite this limited replication in enteroids, chlamydial DNA accumulated in the culture supernatants, suggesting extracellular release of bacterial material. In conclusion, porcine intestinal epithelial cells permit chlamydial attachment, internalization, and early inclusion formation. However, under the tested conditions, efficient completion of the chlamydial developmental cycle was not observed. Nevertheless, porcine enteroid-derived cultures represent a physiologically relevant\n                    <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                    platform to investigate the early stages of intestinal chlamydial infection and provide a valuable system for studying host\u2013pathogen interactions at the intestinal interface.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1818217","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T06:06:58Z","timestamp":1777442818000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Small intestinal organoids as a model to study interactions of C. suis with its porcine host"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Margaux","family":"Verhaeghe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University","place":["Ghent, Belgium"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"Gettemans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University","place":["Ghent, Belgium"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daisy","family":"Vanrompay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University","place":["Ghent, Belgium"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bert","family":"Devriendt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Translational Physiology, Infectiology, and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University","place":["Merelbeke, Belgium"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e53359","DOI":"10.3791\/53359","article-title":"Organoids as model for infectious diseases: culture of human and murine stomach organoids and microinjection of Helicobacter Pylori","volume":"2015","author":"Bartfeld","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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