Effect of frozen storage and various concentrations of sucrose media on survivability of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) for oral challenge of weaner pigs

Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD), mostly caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), remains to be a major source of economic loss in swine industry. The use of the ETEC-oral challenge model is often applied to mimic unsanitary commercial swine farm conditions where pathogens and unknown complex microbes exist and can cause severe infections in pigs. The purpose of this study was (1) to estimate ETEC density using spectrophotometric computation, (2) to determine survivability of ETEC after storing at $-20^{\circ}C$ for 7 days, and (3) to evaluate survivability of ETEC after blending with diluted sweeteners (0, 5, 10, 20, and 40% sucrose in phosphate buffered saline [PBS]). Cell density was quantified using UV-VIS spectrophotometer and counting ETEC colony forming units (cfu) at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, and 240 min. The established linear equation ($y=0.0031x^2-0.0079x+0.0043$ and $y=0.0046x^2-0.0151x+0.0113$) was used for robust quantification of each ETEC cell density. ETEC stored at $-20^{\circ}C$ showed 108 cfu/mL after thawing and incubation. When ETEC was blended with sweeteners (20 and 40%), survival of ETEC was decreased by 58 and 54% in 5 min post blending. However, addition of 20% of sweetener resulted in a higher survivability than those with other media concentrations. Therefore, the use of ETEC-oral challenge model would be possible as a stable method if we could confirm the appropriate medium that increases survivability of ETEC in weaner pigs.