Coccidia-induced mucogenesis promotes the onset of necrotic enteritis by supporting Clostridium perfringens growth
Introduction
Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a small intestinal inflammatory disorder of economic significance (globally greater than 2 billion US dollars/year) that primarily affects neonatal chickens. The causative agent of NE is Clostridium perfringens, a low GC, Gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium that is found commonly in soil, sewage, and the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans (McDonel, 1980, Shane et al., 1984, Lindsay, 1996). Risk factors for the onset of clinical disease include concurrent coccidial infection, the removal of antibiotic growth promoters, and the inclusion of diet components such as wheat and barley, which are high in water-soluble non-starch polysaccharides (Truscott and Al-Sheikhly, 1977, Shane et al., 1984, Riddell and Kong, 1992, Ficken and Wages, 1997, Langhout, 1998; Caplan and Jilling, 2001; Craven et al., 2001). Necrotic enteritis shares strikingly similar pathophysiological features with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), one of the most common and serious gastrointestinal disorders of newborn infants (Gibbs et al., 2007). NEC is responsible for the death of approximately 1000 infants per year, which is comparable to the number of children under 15 years of age who die of leukemia each year in the U.S (Gibbs et al., 2007). Preterm neonates, which are often fed parenterally, are at greatest risk for the development of NEC (Heird and Gomez, 1994, Heird and Gomez, 1996, Yeo, 2006). Although the etiology of NEC is unknown, intestinal inflammatory cascades associated with parenteral nutrition and the transition from parenteral to enteral support possibly contribute to the onset of the disorder (Heird and Gomez, 1996). In previous work with a piglet model of total parental nutrition (TPN), we observed an association between small intestinal inflammation and mucogenesis (Conour et al., 2002, Ganessunker et al., 1999). Enhanced mucus production in the TPN piglet model was associated with the selection of C. perfringens, which led to discovery of the mucolytic nature of this opportunistic pathogen (Deplancke et al., 2002).
The present study used a previously established chick model of NE (Hofacre et al., 1998) to test the hypothesis that the host inflammatory response to eliminate intestinal coccidia results in increased mucus production, and that this provides a growth advantage for C. perfringens due to its ability to utilize mucus as a substrate (Deplancke et al., 2002). In contrast, the direct suppression of coccidia with an ionophore would preclude a characteristic mucogenic response of the host, thereby eliminating conditions favorable for C. perfringens growth. Thus, we hypothesize that C. perfringens growth on mucus represents an initial and previously unrecognized stage of virulence, and that this mode of growth may explain, in part, why coccidiosis predisposes to NE.
Section snippets
Experimental animals and infection model
Cobb male chicks (Cobb-Vantress Hatchery, Cleveland, GA) were distributed over three tier battery cages in a conventional housing system. Five groups of birds (42 birds/group) were randomly allotted to five experimental treatments to test the main effect of coccidiosis (non-infected (NIF) vs. infection with field strains of Eimera vs. ionophore prophylaxis; Table 1). Birds were housed in separate batteries according to coccidia treatment status to avoid cross contamination. Birds were fed a
Infection (EAM/CP) compromised intestinal barrier function and increased intestinal lesions and bird mortality
Intestinal mucosa barrier function data are presented in Table 1 as the translocation of bacteria to the liver or spleen. At day 20, aerobic and anaerobic bacterial and C. perfringens CFUs were observed in the spleen for all birds independent of treatment. This outcome possibly reflects the immaturity of barrier function at this early age. Despite substantial bird-to-bird variation for all treatments, anaerobic bacterial and C. perfringens CFU/g were greater (p < 0.05) in EAM/CP-treated birds
Discussion
The present results support the hypothesis that coccidial infection predisposes to NE through the induction of local T cell-mediated inflammatory responses that enhance intestinal mucogenesis. This outcome was associated with alterations in the composition of the ileal microbiota and enhanced growth of the mucolytic bacterium C. perfringens, the causative agent of NE. While there is considerable evidence for intestinal goblet cell responsiveness to inflammatory mediators, the extent to which
Acknowledgements
We thank Madelyn Stumpf and Jennifer Croix for assistance with intestinal goblet cell histology and Shankar Chowdhury, John Conour, and Noriko Nakamura for review of the manuscript. This study was supported by Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, Indiana.
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