Gastritis induced by Helicobacter pylori in gnotobiotic piglets

Helicobacter pylori has recently been recognized as a gastric pathogen in humans. Experimental oral inoculation of gnotobiotic piglets with this organism results in gastritis that exhibits many features of the corresponding disease in humans. In piglets the organism is restricted to the gastric microenvironment and persists in that location despite prompt humoral and cellular responses to antigens of H. pylori. The gnotobiotic piglet model is useful for delineation of the role of suspected bacterial virulence factors (i.e., motility and urease production) in gastric colonization and for preclinical determination of the efficacy of various antimicrobial substances.