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A New Rat Model Links Two Contemporary Theories in Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Abstract

Rationale Two proposed hypotheses for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are acute gastroenteritis and bacterial overgrowth. We studied whether acute infection with Campylobacter could precipitate bacterial overgrowth in a rat model in order to link the two hypotheses. Methods Sprague-Dawley outbred rats were randomly administered a vehicle or Campylobacter jejuni strain 81-176 by oral gavage. Three months after clearance of the infectious agent, rats had a stool consistency evaluation. After euthanasia, lumenal bacteria counts were measured via quantitative real-time PCR from self-contained segments of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum and left colon. Adjacent sections of bowel were fixed in formalin for evaluation of intraepithelial lymphocyte counts. Results Three months after clearance of Campylobacter infection, 57% of Campylobacter infected rats had some alteration in stool consistency compared to 7.4% in mock-infected controls (P < 0.001). Among the rats that received Campylobacter, 27% had evidence of bacterial overgrowth by PCR. These rats also had the highest prevalence of altered stool form and had lower body weight. Consistent with post-infectious IBS in humans, bacterial overgrowth rats demonstrated a significant increase in rectal and left colon intraepithelial lymphocytes. Conclusions Acute infection with C. jejuni 81-176 precipitates alterations in stool consistency, bacterial overgrowth and rectal lymphocytosis consistent with findings in IBS patients.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Shoolman Foundation for their support of this study. We would also like to thank the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation for their support of the histologic portions of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GI Motilty Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Burns and Allen Research Institute, 8730 Alden Drive, Suite 225E, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Mark Pimentel, Soumya Chatterjee, Kimberly Low, Walter Morales, Lemeesa Ali, Sheila Lezcano & Jeffery Conklin

  2. UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Christopher Chang

  3. Division of Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yuli Song, Chengxu Liu & Sydney Finegold

  4. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Sydney Finegold

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  1. Mark Pimentel
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  2. Soumya Chatterjee
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  3. Christopher Chang
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  4. Kimberly Low
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  5. Yuli Song
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  6. Chengxu Liu
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  7. Walter Morales
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  8. Lemeesa Ali
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  9. Sheila Lezcano
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  10. Jeffery Conklin
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  11. Sydney Finegold
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Correspondence to Mark Pimentel.

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Pimentel, M., Chatterjee, S., Chang, C. et al. A New Rat Model Links Two Contemporary Theories in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Dig Dis Sci 53, 982–989 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-007-9977-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-007-9977-z

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