Comparison of intestinal mucosa homogenate and pure culture of the homologous Lawsonia intracellularis isolate in reproducing proliferative enteropathy in swine
There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Little information is available on reproduction of proliferative enteropathy (PE)
using a virulent pure culture of Lawsonia intracellularis. Reproduction of the disease
using PE-diseased mucosa homogenates, however, is well-characterized. The aims of
this study were to evaluate and compare clinical signs, growth performance and the
severity of lesions in pigs inoculated with intestinal mucosa homogenate or pure culture
of the homologous L. intracellularis isolate. Five-week-old pigs were inoculated with
pure culture of L. intracellularis (isolate PHE/MN1-00; n=10), PE-diseased mucosa
(n=10), or control media (n=4). The L. intracellularis isolate PHE/MN1-00 used in
the pure culture inoculum was extracted from a fragment of the same intestine used
to prepare the mucosa homogenate. Clinical signs and growth performance were evaluated
throughout the study. Fecal shedding was evaluated in all animals weekly during the
experiment. All animals were euthanized 22 days post-inoculation, the intestines were
examined grossly and histologically. Results showed that both the infection procedures
reproduced clinical disease, macroscopic and histologic lesions typical of PE. Fecal
shedding was detected in animals in both challenge groups. In conclusion, the L. intracellularis
isolate PHE/MN1-00 reproduces typical clinical signs and lesions of PE similar to
the homologous infection with an intestinal mucosa homogenate.