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The Effect of Protein-Energy Malnutrition and Refeeding on the Adherence of Salmonella typhimurium to Small Intestinal Mucosa and Isolated Enterocytes in Rats¹

The International Institute for Infant Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Disease, Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14222 ^* Department of Pediatrics, Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA 19102

The adherence of fimbriated (Fim+) and nonfimbriated (Fim-) strains of Salmonella typhimurium to both isolated intestinal epithelial cells and intact intestinal mucosa of healthy and malnourished rats was investigated. Fim+ strains bound in significantly higher numbers than did Fim- strains to enterocytes isolated either from healthy or malnourished rats. Adherence to intact intestinal mucosa in situ was demonstrable with both Fim+ and Fim- bacteria, but Fim+ strains were preferred because they showed approximately twofold higher numbers of adhered bacteria compared to Fim- strains. Additionally, bacterial adherence to intact mucosa in situ was consistently higher in well-fed controls than in malnourished rats. Ultrastructural studies revealed marked cell destruction and lysis in malnourished rats, whereas no histological change was detected in the mucosa of control animals. These results suggest that malnutrition may lead to altered intestinal cell surfaces, thus increasing their susceptibility to infection through mechanisms that are different from adherence.

KEY WORDS: • malnutrition • Salmonella typhimurium • intestinal mucosa • bacterial adherence • rats

¹ Supported by a Cooperative Agreement with United States Agency for International Development DPE No. 5940-A-004019-00.

² Temporarily assigned to IIINGD from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.

³ Temporarily assigned to IIINGD from Orebro Medical Center Hospital, Sweden.

⁴ Temporarily assigned to IIINGD from the Department of Pediatrics, Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil.

⁵ Department of Microbiology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214.

⁶ Reprint requests to this author at Department of Pediatrics, Hahnemann University, Broad and Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

Manuscript received 9 May 1989. Revision accepted 14 November 1989.