The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 22, Issue 2 133-141, Copyright © 1986 by Society for General Microbiology
Antibacterial immunity to Vibrio cholerae in rats
G. N. Cooper and R. Narendranathan
Blind loops prepared in the small intestines of fasted, MgSO4-treated rats
were shown to provide a simple, consistent and inexpensive means of
studying mucosal colonisation by Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1. When c. 2000
cfu were injected, the number of mucosa-associated V. cholerae in each loop
increased by c. 5-6 orders of magnitude in 10-14 h, without
enterotoxin-induced fluid production. Scanning electronmicroscopy and
culture suggested that most surface-associated organisms were present in
the adherent surface mucus. V. cholerae strains varied in terms of
surface-colonising capacity. Immunisation with V. cholerae given
intra-intestinally greatly reduced the rate of increase and final number of
mucosa-associated vibrios within the 14-h period after challenge. The
method could be used to compare the immunity induced by various immunising
regimens. Immunity was sometimes accompanied by intestinal mucus-borne
antibody against V. cholerae lipopolysaccharide but was sometimes
demonstrated in the absence of such antibody or of mucus-borne antibody to
heat-sensitive surface protein.
