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Updated: Oct 13, 2026
Enteric Bacterial Invasion Of Intestinal Epithelial Cells In Vitro Is Dramatically Enhanced Using a Vertical Diffusion Chamber Model
Published on: October 22, 2013
Physiological effects of HIV infection on human intestinal epithelial cells: an in vitro model for HIV enteropathy
D M Asmuth1, S M Hammer, C A Wanke
1Division of Infectious Diseases, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA 02215.
Objectives:
To determine the role of direct infection of intestinal cells with HIV-1 in the pathogenesis of HIV-related enteropathy.
Methods:
We infected HT-29-18-C1 intestinal cells with the IIIB strain of HIV and examined the physiologic effects of enterocyte function. Dipeptidase-IV, aminopeptidase-N, gamma glutamic transferase, and alkaline phosphatase were measured in HIV-infected and control cultures. The cellular second messengers intracellular calcium and cyclic adenosine monophosphate were also measured in infected and control cultures.
Results:
A persistent infection was established for > 95 days with peak supernatant reverse transcriptase and HIV p24 antigen levels of 5.17 log10 c.p.m./ml and 45 ng/ml, respectively. Brush-border enzyme activity (nmol of product/min/mg protein) tended to be lower in infected cell cultures compared with controls early in infection (P < 0.02). Baseline second messenger concentrations were similar but infected cultures responded to stimulation with a calcium ionophore with an exaggerated increase in intracellular calcium (P = 0.03).
Conclusions:
These results suggest that absorptive and secretory function of enterocytes may be altered by direct HIV infection and that additional physiologic experiments with this in vitro model may lead to a better understanding of the clinical syndrome of HIV enteropathy.
