Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.1128/jb.00407-24
Publication Title
Journal of Bacteriology
Volume
Article in Press
Pages
17 pp.
Abstract
Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is an urgent public health threat with a high rate of recurrence and limited treatment options. In vivo models have been indispensable in understanding CDI pathophysiology and establishing treatment protocols and continue to be essential in pre-clinal testing. More importantly, in vivo models offer the opportunity to probe the complex systemic host response to the microbe, which is impossible to recapitulate in vitro. Nonetheless, constraints related to the availability of animal models, cost, ethical considerations, and regulatory control limit their accessibility for basic research. Furthermore, physiological and habitual divergences between animal models and humans often result in poor translatability to human patients. In addition to being more accessible, in vitro CDI models offer more control over experimental parameters and allow dynamic analysis of early infection. In vitro fermentation offers models for probing microbe-microbe and microbe-microbiome interactions, while continuous multi-stage platforms allow opportunities to study C. difficile pathophysiology and treatment in context with human-derived microbiota. However, these platforms are not suitable for probing the host-pathogen interface, leaving the challenge of modeling early CDI unanswered. As a result, alternative in vitro co-culture platforms are being developed. This review evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, as well as future directions for C. difficile research.
Rights
© 2025 Zvonareva et al.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
Original Publication Citation
Zvonareva, T., Courson, D. S., & Purcell, E. B. (2025). Clostridioides difficile infection study models and prospectives for probing the microbe-host interface. Journal of Bacteriology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00407-24
ORCID
0009-0001-3865-1760 (Zvonareva), 0000-0002-8736-0433 (Purcell)
Repository Citation
Zvonareva, Tatiana; Courson, David S.; and Purcell, Erin B., "Clostridioides difficile Infection Study Models and Prospectives for Probing the Microbe-Host Interface" (2025). Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications. 343.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/chemistry_fac_pubs/343