Intranasal Mice Model to Study the role of Bordetella pertussis antigens in Immunity

Pertussis known as whooping cough is a highly contagious disease. Whole cell pertussis vaccine is the most economical and effective strategy for preventing and controlling pertussis. The efficacy of whole cell vaccine is ascertained most commonly by intracerebral challenge assay, but it does not reflect the true efficacy of vaccine as Pertussis essentially is a respiratory disease. Therefore, in order to mimic the natural infection, intranasal challenge model in mice was developed. In intranasal challenge assay mice were immunized with vaccine and challenged through intranasal route. Mice lungs were dissected and examined for bacterial count. The degree of count was related to efficacy of vaccine, higher count indicated low efficacy and low count pointed to better efficacy.