AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 257, Issue 5 725-G731, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society
Altered intestinal motility precedes diarrhea during Escherichia coli enteric infection
R. W. Sjogren, P. M. Sherman and E. C. Boedeker
Department of Gastroenterology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100.
Changes in ileal and colonic myoelectric activity during the course of
enteric infection of rabbits with the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli
strain RDEC-1 were determined and related to microbiological, histological,
and clinical parameters of disease. Rabbits were grouped into early, peak,
and late stages of infection based on fecal shedding of bacteria. Weight
loss and an increase in prolonged spike bursts (both action potential
complexes and ileal migrating action potential complexes) developed early
in infection, before the onset of diarrhea. Loose stools subsequently
developed coincident with maximal numbers of action potential complexes.
The myoelectric responses correlated better with mucosal enteroadherence of
bacteria than with luminal colonization. These data demonstrate that, in
this animal model of enteroadherent bacterial infection of the intestine,
changes in intestinal myoelectric activity precede the onset of clinical
diarrhea. In addition, bacterial adherence to the intestinal mucosa appears
to be important in eliciting the abnormal myoelectric responses.
