title: Helicobacter mustelae-induced gastritis and elevated gastric pH in the ferret (Mustela putorius furo).
abstract: Helicobacter mustelae has been cultured from the stomachs of ferrets with chronic gastritis; the lesions in the stomach have many of the same histological features seen in H. pylori gastritis in humans. To determine whether H. mustelae-negative ferrets with normal gastric mucosa were susceptible to colonization and whether gastritis developed after infection, four H. mustelae-negative ferrets treated with cimetidine were inoculated orally on two successive days with 3 ml (1.5 x 10(8) CFU) of H. mustelae; eight age-matched H. mustelae-negative ferrets served as controls. All four ferrets became colonized; H. mustelae persisted through week 24 of the study, as determined by positive gastric culture, tissue urease, and Warthin-Starry staining of gastric tissue. Superficial gastritis developed in the oxyntic gastric mucosa, and a full-thickness gastritis, composed primarily of lymphocytes and plasma cells plus small numbers of neutrophils and eosinophils, was present in the antrum. The inflammation was accompanied by an elevation of immunoglobulin G antibody to H. mustelae. At 4 weeks post-inoculation, the four infected (experimental) ferrets developed an elevated gastric pH (4.0 to 5.2) for 2 weeks. The eight control ferrets did not have gastritis; H. mustelae could not be demonstrated in gastric tissue via culture, nor was there an immune response to the bacteria. In ferrets, H. mustelae readily colonizes the stomach and produces a gastritis, a significant immune response, and, like H. pylori infection in humans, a transient elevated gastric pH after Helicobacter infection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rosenblad
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005289:Ferrets; D005745:Gastric Acidity Determination; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005756:Gastritis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006089:Gram-Negative Anaerobic Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G