Effect of vitamin E nutritional supplementation on the pathological changes induced in the ileum of rabbits by experimental infection with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.
A well-established rabbit model of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) disease was used to examine whether vitamin E (VE) nutritional supplementation had an effect on the pathological changes induced in the bowel by EPEC. Quantitative methods were used to evaluate the influence of VE on bacterial colonization, intestinal mucosal architecture and inflammation, and intestinal epithelial proliferation and apoptosis. VE did not affect EPEC colonization and did not give significant protection against EPEC-induced changes and diarrhoea. Although VE had no effect on the EPEC-related increase of enterocyte apoptosis, it clearly contributed to an acceleration of epithelial cell proliferation in the ileal crypts. This finding may explain why ileal morphometry undertaken in this study showed that VE ameliorated somewhat the effects of EPEC on intestinal mucosal architecture. Quantitative studies on inflammatory cells in the intestinal mucosa revealed that VE nutritional supplementation resulted in an increased neutrophilic and mononuclear inflammatory cell response to EPEC infection, which did not contribute, however, to the clearance of infection.
Tsalie
E
E
Laboratory of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
Kouzi
K
K
Poutahidis
T
T
Abas
Z
Z
Sarris
K
K
Iliadis
N
N
Kaldrymidou
E
E
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D020895:Enterocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005260:Female; D007082:Ileum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D011817:Rabbits; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014815:Vitamins / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D014815:Vitamins; D014810:Vitamin E