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Helicobacter pylori-induced Gastritis in Experimentally Infected Conventional Piglets

Laboratory of Pathology (TP, TT, GK, IV), Laboratory of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (NI), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Department of Medical Microbiology (DS), Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

A conventional nonmutant animal that could be experimentally infected with Helicobacter pylori isolates would be a useful animal model for human H. pylori-associated gastritis. Gnotobiotic and barrier-born pigs are susceptible to H. pylori infection, but attempts to infect conventional pigs with this bacterium have been unsuccessful. In the present study, a litter of eight 20-day-old crossbreed piglets were purchased from a commercial farm. Six of them were orally challenged two to five times at different ages, between 29 and 49 days, with doses of H. pylori inoculum containing approximately 10⁹ bacterial cells. Two animals served as controls. The inoculation program began 2 days postweaning when the piglets were 29 days of age. Prior to every inoculation, the piglets were fasted and pretreated with cimetidine, and prior to the first and second inoculation each piglet also was pretreated with dexamethasone. The challenged piglets were euthanasized between 36 and 76 days of age. H. pylori colonized all six inoculated piglets. The pathology of the experimentally induced gastritis was examined macroscopically and by light and electron microscopy. H. pylori induced a severe lymphocytic gastritis in the conventional piglets and reproduced the large majority of the pathologic features of the human disease. Therefore, the conventional piglet represents a promising new model for study of the various pathogenic mechanisms involved in the development of lesions of the human H. pylori-associated gastritis.

Key words: Animal models; gastritis; Helicobacter pylori; lesions; piglets.

Request reprints from Dr. T. Poutahidis, Laboratory of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 540 06 Thessaloniki (Greece).