STUDIES ON PATHOGENICITY OF PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA BY USE OF LIGATED RABBIT INTESTINES (DE TEST)

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 46  (4) , 245-+
Abstract
The De test was used to assess the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa in vivo. The test was positive in rabbits inoculated intraintestinally with the protease and elastase-producing strain IFO 3455 of P. aeruginosa; it was negative in those inoculated with the nonproducing strains NC-5 or PA103. Animals similarly injected with not < 2.0 mg of protease or elastase showed positive De tests. The intestinal lesions produced in the animals with positive reaction to the inoculation with the enzyme-producing strain IFO 3455 was histopathologically characterized by atrophy, detachment and flattening of the mucosa with submucosal hemorrhage and atrophy of the Auerbach''s plexus. This was nearly comparable to the microscopic findings in animals inoculated with enzymes singly. Villi were atrophic, and hemorrhage from the submucosal blood vessels was prominent with atrophy of the mesenteric plexus in the rabbits inoculated with protease alone; in those injected with just elastase submucosal hemorrhage was less prominent. The 2 enzymes liberated from P. aeruginosa, protease and elastase, may be implicated in the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa enteritis.