An experimental Helicobacter suis infection causes gastritis and reduced daily weight gain in pigs Ellen De Bruyne a, *, Bram Flahou a , Koen Chiers a , Tom Meyns a , Smitha Kumar a , Miet Vermoote a , Frank Pasmans a , Sam Millet b , Jeroen Dewulf c , Freddy Haesebrouck a,1 , Richard Ducatelle a,1 a Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium b Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Scheldeweg 68, 9090 Melle, Belgium c Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 1. Introduction Helicobacter suis is a Gram-negative, spiral-shaped bacterium that often colonizes the gastric mucosa of pigs (Grasso et al., 1996; Park et al., 2004; Hellemans et al., 2007). In addition, H. suis is the most prevalent gastric non- H. pylori Helicobacter (NHPH) species in humans (Van Den Bulck et al., 2005; Haesebrouck et al., 2009). In pigs the prevalence of a H. suis infection is low before weaning. After weaning, it gradually increases to 80% in pigs at slaughter age (Hellemans et al., 2007). In young pigs and pigs at slaughter age, the highest H. suis colonization densities can often be found in the pyloric region. In adult boars and sows, however, higher colonization rates have been described in the fundic region (Hellemans et al., 2007). An association between H. suis and chronic gastritis of the pyloric region of the stomach in naturally infected pigs, has been suggested by several authors (Mendes et al., 1991; Quieroz et al., 1996; Park et al., 2000). Associations have also been made between a natural H. suis infection and the presence of ulcers in the pars oesophagea of the stomach (Barbosa et al., 1995; Quieroz et al., 1996; Roosendaal et al., 2000) but the exact role of H. suis in gastric pathology remains to be eludicated (Haesebrouck Veterinary Microbiology 160 (2012) 449–454 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 5 May 2012 Received in revised form 20 June 2012 Accepted 20 June 2012 Keywords: Helicobacter suis Gastritis Weight gain Pig A B S T R A C T Helicobacter suis is a zoonotically important bacterium, that has been associated with gastritis and ulcerative lesions of the pars oesophagea of the stomach in pigs. Its exact role in these pathologies, however, still remains controversial. Therefore, a total of 29 medicated early weaned piglets were inoculated intragastrically or orally, with a total of 2  10 9 viable H. suis bacteria and the effect on gastric pathology and weight gain was determined. Twenty-three medicated early weaned piglets were inoculated with a sterile culture medium and used as sham-inoculated controls. The animals were euthanized between 28 and 42 days after inoculation. Infected animals showed a more severe gastritis compared to the control group. There was also a significant reduction of approximately 60 g per day (10%) in weight gain in H. suis inoculated animals compared to the sham- inoculated control animals. In conclusion, this study demonstrates for the first time that a pure in vitro culture of H. suis not only causes gastritis but also a marked decrease of the daily weight gain in experimentally infected pigs. ß 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 9 264 73 61; fax: +32 9 264 74 94. E-mail addresses: Eadbruyn.Debruyne@ugent.be (E. De Bruyne), Bram.Flahou@ugent.be (B. Flahou), Koen.Chiers@ugent.be (K. Chiers), Tom.Meyns@merial.com (T. Meyns), Smitha.Kumar@ugent.be (S. Kumar), Miet.Vermoote@ugent.be (M. Vermoote), Frank.Pasmans@ugent.be (F. Pasmans), Sam.Millet@ilvo.vlaanderen.be (S. Millet), Jeroen.Dewulf@ugent.be (J. Dewulf), Freddy.Haesebrouck@ugent.be (F. Haesebrouck), Richard.Ducatelle@ugent.be (R. Ducatelle). 1 Shared senior authorship. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Veterinary Microbiology jo u rn al ho m epag e: ww w.els evier.c o m/lo cat e/vetmic 0378-1135/$ – see front matter ß 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2012.06.031