Salmonella interactions with host cells: in vitro to in vivo

Salmonellosis (diseases caused by Salmonella species) have several clinical manifestations, ranging from gastroenteritis (food poisoning) to typhoid ( enteric) fever and bacteraemia. Salmonella species (especially Salmonella t yphimurium) also represent organisms that call be readily used to investiga te the complex interplay that occurs between a pathogen and its host, both in vitro and in vivo. The ease with which S. typhimurium can be cultivated and genetically manipulated, in combination with the availability of tissue culture models and animal models, has made S. typhimurium a desirable orga nism for such studies. In this review, we focus on Salmonella interactions with its host cells, both in tissue culture (in vitro) and in relevant anim al models (in vivo), and compare results obtained using these different mod els. The recent advent of sophisticated imaging and molecular genetic tools has facilitated studying the events that occur. in disease, thereby confir ming tissue culture results, yet identifying new questions that need to be addressed in relevant disease settings.