title: Evaluation of antibiotic therapies for eradication of Helicobacter hepaticus.
abstract: The newly recognized murine pathogen Helicobacter hepaticus is known to colonize the ceca and colons of several strains of mice from a variety of commercial suppliers. Additionally, the organism persistently infects mice, causes a chronic hepatitis, and is linked to hepatic tumors in the A/JCr inbred mouse strain. For this reason, eradication of the organism from infected mouse colonies is desirable. Treatment modalities for eradication of H. hepaticus from the gastrointestinal system consisted of oral administration of various antibiotic combinations previously evaluated for eradication of experimental H. felis gastric infection in mice. A/JCr mice (8 to 10 weeks old) naturally infected with H. hepaticus were divided into six treatment groups of 10 animals each. Animals received monotherapy of amoxicillin, metronidazole, or tetracycline or triple therapy of amoxicillin-metronidazole-bismuth (AMB) or tetracycline-metronidazole-bismuth (TMB). All medications were administered by oral gavage three times daily for 2 weeks. One month after the final treatment, mice were euthanatized and livers, ceca, and colons were cultured for H. hepaticus. All untreated control animals had H. hepaticus isolated from the cecum and/or colon. H. hepaticus was not recovered from the livers, ceca, or colons of the AMB or TMB treatment groups. All animals receiving the various antibiotic monotherapies had H. hepaticus isolated from the cecum and colon. We conclude that at the doses and the route evaluated, AMB and TMB triple therapies are effective for eradication of H. hepaticus in 8- to 10-week old A/JCr mice.
authors.affiliation: Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Foltz
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shames
mesh_terms: D000658:Amoxicillin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001729:Bismuth / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011897:Random Allocation; D013272:Stomach Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008795:Metronidazole; D000658:Amoxicillin; D013752:Tetracycline; D001729:Bismuth