Figure 1. C. jejuni colonizes infant rabbits and induces destructive enteritis.

Gross findings in infant rabbits inoculated with C. jejuni (b,d) or buffer (a,c). Rabbits exhibiting severe diarrhea in (b) and no diarrhea are detected in (a). The infected rabbits show the swollen, fluid-filled distended intestines (d) while the normal-appearing intestine is observed in (c). Recovery of C. jejuni (cfu g⁻¹) from tissue homogenates of indicated organs and intestinal sections (prox, proximal and SI, small intestine) are displayed in (e). Points represent individual rabbits, bars represent geometric means. Representative sections of the intestines of infant rabbits 24 h after oral administration of C. jejuni strain NCTC 11168 are analyzed. Sections were either stained with hematoxylin and eosin (f–h, and h as control) or immunostained for C. jejuni (i–k, and k as control). Widespread edema and marked congestion of capillaries are observed in cross section of the cecum from an infant rabbit given oral C. jejuni (f,g), and no apparent pathological damage are observed in the uninfected control (h). The immunohistochemical stained C. jejuni (brown stain) can be seen in deep tissues as well as the paracellular junction and at the basolateral surface of the epithelium (i,j), while no positive staining are seen in the same cross section of the cecum from an uninfected control rabbit (h). Magnification, x100.