Infection by the oral route leads to preferential bacterial colonization of the CLN.

<p>C57BL/6 mice were infected by intraperitoneal injection (10⁶ bacteria/mouse), intragastric by gavage or by the oral route (both at 10⁹ bacteria/mouse). At 8 days post-infection, mice were sacrificed and organs weighed and analyzed for their bacterial loads by plating homogenates on nutrient agar. Data represent mean organ weight or colony forming units (CFU) per organ and SEM of the pooled results from two independent experiments with 5 mice per group. Non-infected organs are not shown due to logarithmic scale. * p ≤ 0.05. CLN—cervical lymph nodes; MLN—mesenteric lymph nodes.