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Diagnosis | Clostridium difficile–induced typhlitis and colitis

Lab Animal volume 39, pages 100–102 (2010)Cite this article

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Tissues from four hamsters that died were fixed in 10% neutral-buffered formalin for submission to the University of Missouri Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory for histopathological evaluation. In addition, sections of the cecum and cecal contents were frozen and submitted for Clostridium spp. PCR testing.

C. difficile is a Gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium1. C. difficile bacteria are highly diverse; there are more than 400 unique types that can express several virulence factors. Many of the 400 types are nontoxigenic. Toxins A and B are the most important virulence factors, and bacterial production of exotoxins is correlated with pathogenicity of individual strains of C. difficile. Toxin A is a potent enterotoxin2. Toxin B is a potent cytotoxin in vitro but seems to have little activity in vivo unless there is prior damage to mucosal epithelium3. The toxins act synergistically: toxin A creates widespread damage to the mucosa, allowing toxin B to affect epithelial cells4,5. Though production of toxin A is more consistently associated with C. difficile–associated disease, toxin A–negative, toxin B–positive strains of C. difficile have been reported to cause clinical disease in humans and Syrian hamsters6,7.

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Figure 2: Section of cecum from a hamster that died suddenly (Fig. 1) stained with hematoxylin and eosin.
Figure 3: PCR gel analysis of cecal tissue from a hamster that died suddenly using two primers specific for C. difficile toxins A (a) and B (b).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Howard Wilson (University of Missouri-Columbia) for the histology and PCR figures. Erin O'Connor was supported by a Mission Enhancement grant from the University of Missouri.

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Diagnosis | Clostridium difficile–induced typhlitis and colitis. Lab Anim 39, 100–102 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0410-100

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