OBJECTIVETo observe the ultrastructural change of the route of gut bacterial translocation in a rat with spinal cord injury (SCI).

METHODSForty Wistar rats were divided into the following groups: control group and 3 SCI groups (10 in each group). The rats in the SCI groups were established SCI model at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after SCI. Small intestine mucous membrane tissue was identified and assayed by transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope and immunofluorescence microscopy.

RESULTSSmall intestine mucous membrane tissue in control group was not damaged significantly, but those in SCI groups were damaged significantly. Proliferation bacteria in gut lumen attached on microvilli. The extracellular bacteria torn the intestinal barrier and perforated into the small intestinal mucosal epithelial cell. The bacteria and a lot of particles of the seriously damaged region penetrated into the lymphatic system and the blood system directly. Some bacteria were internalized into the goblet cell through the apical granule. Some bacteria and particles perforated into the submucosa of the M cell running the long axis of M cells through the tight junctions. In the microcirculation of mucosa, the bacteria that had already broken through the microvilli into blood circulation swim accompanying with erythrocytes.

CONCLUSIONThe routes of bacterial translocation interact and format a vicious circle. At early step, the transcellular pathway of bacterial translocation is major. Following with the destroyed small intestine mucous, the routes of bacterial translocation through the lymphatic system and the blood system become direct pathways. The goblet cell-dendritic cell and M cell pathway also play an important role in the bacterial translocation.

Animals ; Bacteria ; Bacterial Translocation ; Epithelial Cells ; microbiology ; Goblet Cells ; microbiology ; Intestinal Mucosa ; microbiology ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Intestine, Small ; microbiology ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Microvilli ; microbiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; microbiology

Mucormycosis is a rare but invasive opportunistic fungal infection with increased frequency during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. The clinical infections due to Mucor include rhinocerebral, pulmonary, cutaneous, gastrointestinal and disseminated diseases. The first two are the most common diseases and all entities are associated with a high mortality rate. Still hepatic involvement of Mucor is rarely reported. We experienced a case of hepatic and small bowel mucormycosis in a 56-year-old woman after induction chemotherapy for B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia. Initial symptoms were a high fever unresponsive to broad spectrum antibiotics and pain in the left lower abdominal quadrant. It was followed by septic shock, deterioration of icterus and progressively elevated transaminase. An abdominal CT demonstrated multiple hypodense lesions with distinct margins in both lobes of liver and pericolic infiltration at small bowel and ascending colon. Diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy of the liver. The histopathology of the liver showed hyphae with the right-angle branching, typical of mucormycosis. The patient was managed with amphotericin B and operative correction of the perforated part of the small bowel was performed. However, the patient expired due to progressive hepatic failure despite corrective surgery and long-term amphotericin B therapy.
Case Report ; Female ; Human ; Intestinal Diseases/therapy ; Intestinal Diseases/radiography ; Intestinal Diseases/pathology* ; Intestinal Diseases/microbiology ; Intestine, Small/radiography ; Intestine, Small/pathology ; Liver Diseases/therapy ; Liver Diseases/radiography ; Liver Diseases/pathology* ; Liver Diseases/microbiology ; Middle Age ; Mucormycosis/therapy ; Mucormycosis/radiography ; Mucormycosis/pathology* ; Mucormycosis/microbiology ; Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of chloroquine on the apoptosis of intestinal mucosa epithelial cell and enterogenous bacteria-endotoxin translocation after total hepatic ischemia-reperfusion in rats. METHODS: The rat total hepatic ischemia-reperfusion model was built by blocking the hepatic portal, suprahepatic and infrahepatic vena cava for 20 minutes. Ninety Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned randomly into the sham operation group (Group A, n = 30), total hepatic ischemia-reperfusion treatment group (Group B, n = 30), and chloroquine administrated group (Group C, n = 30). Each group was subdivided randomly into 3 subgroups (n = 10) according to different experiment time phases as follows: after 20 minutes of total hepatic vascular exclusion (T0), 4 hours after reperfusion (T1), and the 48 hours of survival. Group A and Group B were intravenously injected with normal saline 1 mL/kg while Group C received chloroquine 10 mg/kg which dissolved in 1 mL/kg normal saline intravenously. The levels of portal blood D-lactate, TNF-alpha, endotoxin, and the intestinal mucosa MDA concentration were measured at T0 and T1; the portal blood, mesenteric lymph node, and spleen tissues were cultured for bacteria; and the apoptotic index of intestinal mucosa epithelial cells at T0 and T1 and the survival rate after 48 hour reperfusion were obtained. RESULTS: Compared with Group A, the levels of portal blood D-lactate, TNF-alpha, endotoxin and the intestinal mucosa MDA in Group B and Group C were significantly higher (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). These indexes of Group C were lower than those of Group B (P < 0.05). The portal vein blood, mesenteric lymph node and spleen tissues existed the bacterium translocation both in Group B and Group C, and the positive rate in Group C was lower than that in Group B (P < 0.05). Apoptotic index of the intestinal mucosa epithelial cell increased significantly in Group B (P < 0.01) and Group C (P < 0.05), but the apoptotic index in Group C was lower than that in Group B (P < 0.05); the 48 hour survival rate of the rats in Group C was higher than that in group B (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Chloroquine may decrease the intestinal mucosa epithelial cell apoptosis and the enterogenous bacteria-endotoxin translocation after total hepatic ischemia-reperfusion and increase the survival rate of the rats.
Animals ; Bacterial Translocation ; drug effects ; Chloroquine ; pharmacology ; Epithelial Cells ; pathology ; Escherichia coli ; physiology ; Female ; Intestinal Mucosa ; pathology ; Intestine, Small ; microbiology ; pathology ; Liver ; blood supply ; Male ; Phospholipases A ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; microbiology ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo study the effects and mechanisms of Jianpi Liqi Huoxue Decoction (JLHD) in anti-alcoholic liver injury (ALI) through the pathological relation of ALI with changes of intestinal permeability and endotoxin leakage.

METHODSThe liver injury model induced by Lieber-DeCarli alcoholic forage was established. Altogether 42 male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, the normal group (n=6), the control group fed with non-alcohol diet (n=12), the model group fed with alcoholic diet (n=12) and the treated group fed with alcoholic diet and treated with JLHD (n=12). The medicine or distilled water was administered by gavage from the 3rd week to the end of the 6th week. Then after fasting for 5 h all the rats except those in the normal group were given lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 10 mg/kg by gavage, and the blood plasma from portal vein, serum from inferior cava vein as well as tissues of liver and intestine were prepared for detection of plasma LPS level in the portal vein to observe the change of intestinal permeability through LPS content in portal vein blood plasma, the pathological and ultrastructural changes of the small intestine by HE staining, the pathological change of liver and triglyceride (TG) content and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) activity in liver, the changes of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, and plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) level.

RESULTSIn rats after modeling, there were obvious fatty degeneration, significant increase of hepatic TG content and GGT activity, serum ALT and AST activity, as well as plasma TNF-alpha level, with high plasma LPS level indicating increased intestinal permeability, and seriously injured mucosa microvilla of small intestine. However, all the above abnormal changes were milder in the treated group than those in the model group. Meanwhile, the TNF-alpha content, endotoxin level and ALT activity were found to be positively correlated.

CONCLUSIONJLHD could alleviate liver injury through inhibiting the alcohol induced increased intestinal permeability and lessening endotoxin leakage.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Endotoxins ; metabolism ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; Intestine, Small ; microbiology ; pathology ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; pathology ; Male ; Permeability ; Phytotherapy ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo observe the pathological changes of the intestinal mucosa in rats with severe abdominal infection.

METHODA total of 60 SD rats were divided randomly into control group and experimental group (n=30), and in the latter group, the rats underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) while those in the former had only laparotomy. The jejunum and ileum were sampled on postoperative days 1, 2 and 4 for optical and electron microscopic observations. The positivity rate of blood bacterial culture and plasma level of endotoxin were determined in the rats.

RESULTSNo abnormal changes were observed with either optical and electron microscope in the small intestinal mucous membrane of rats in the control group, but in rats of the experimental group, microscopic examination revealed interstitial edema, vascular engorgement and neutrophil infiltration in the small intestine mucous membrane and the submucosa, and electron microscopy demonstrated loose and disorderly arrangement of the microvilli of the intestinal epithelium. Plasma endotoxin level in rats in the experimental group was 5- to 12-fold higher than that in the control group. The positivity rates of blood bacterial culture were 20%, 30% and 10% on postoperative days 1, 2 and 4 respectively in the experimental group, but were all zero in the control group.

CONCLUSIONPathologic lesions in the intestinal mucosa occur during the early stage of severe abdominal infection in rats as the result of bacteria and endotoxin translocation.

Animals ; Bacteria ; isolation & purification ; Bacterial Infections ; blood ; microbiology ; pathology ; Bacterial Translocation ; Cecum ; Endotoxins ; blood ; Female ; Intestinal Diseases ; etiology ; microbiology ; pathology ; Intestinal Mucosa ; microbiology ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Intestine, Small ; microbiology ; pathology ; Ligation ; adverse effects ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron ; Punctures ; adverse effects ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The presence of galectin-3 was immunohistochemically quantified in bovine intestines infected with paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) to determine whether galectin-3 was involved in the formation of granulation tissue associated with the disease. Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection was histochemically confirmed using Ziehl-Neelsen staining and molecularly diagnosed through rpoB DNA sequencing. Galectin-3 was detected in the majority of inflammatory cells, possibly macrophages, in the granulomatous lesions within affected tissues, including the ileum. These findings suggest that galectin-3 is associated with the formation of chronic granulation tissues in bovine paratuberculosis, probably through cell adhesion and anti-apoptosis mechanisms.
Animals ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/*pathology ; Chronic Disease ; Galectin 3/*metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Intestine, Small/microbiology/*pathology ; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis/growth & development/isolation & purification ; Paratuberculosis/*pathology ; RNA Polymerase II/genetics

Radiation therapy is an important treatment modality for abdominal or pelvic cancer, but there is a common and serious complication such as radiation-induced enteritis. Probiotics is reported to have positive effects against radiation-induced enteropathy. In this study, morphological changes of bowel mucosa were analyzed in rats to presume the effect of probiotics on radiation-induced enteritis and its correlation with radiation dose. A total of 48 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to two groups and received a solution containing 1.0x108 colony-forming units of Lactiobacillus acidophilus or water once daily for 10 days. Each of two groups was divided into three subgroups and abdomino-pelvic area of each subgroup was irradiated with 10, 15, and 20 Gy, respectively on the seventh day of feeding the solutions. All rats were sacrificed 3 days after irradiation and the mucosal thickness and villus height of jejunum, ileum and colon were measured. The morphological parameters of the small intestine represented significant differences between two solution groups irradiated 10 or 15 Gy, except for villus height of jejunum in 15 Gy-subgroup (P=0.065). There was no significant morphometric difference between two groups irradiated with 20 Gy of radiation. Probiotics appear to be effective for the morphological shortening of small intestinal mucosa damaged by radiation less than or equal to 15 Gy.
Animals ; Colon/pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Enteritis/pathology/prevention & control ; Ileum/pathology ; Intestinal Mucosa/microbiology/*radiation effects ; Intestine, Small ; Jejunum/pathology ; Lactobacillus acidophilus/*metabolism ; Male ; Probiotics/administration & dosage/*pharmacology ; Radiation Injuries, Experimental/*prevention & control/therapy ; Radiation Protection/*methods ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley