Scanning and transmission electron microscopic study of adherence of Escherichia coli O103 enteropathogenic and/or enterohemorrhagic strain GV in enteric infection in rabbits.

The GV strain (serotype O103:H2:K-), originally isolated from a diarrheic rabbit, is an enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strain that produces diarrhea without synthesizing the classical enterotoxins and that is not invasive. This strain is characterized by a 117-kb plasmid (pREC-1). Histological study of the gut by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy was performed on the GV strain, on a derivative strain cured of pREC-1, and on transconjugants obtained by transfer of pREC-1 to nonpathogenic strains E. coli K-12 and 6100, not belonging to the O103 serogroup. The GV strain adhered to the epithelial cells of the ileum and large intestine, whereas the cured GV strain did not. Transfer of plasmid pREC-1 to E. coli K-12 or 6100 allowed the bacteria to attach to the intestinal mucosa in the same manner as that of the wild-type GV strain. Thus, pREC-1 seems to play an important role in attachment to and colonization of the intestinal tract of rabbits by E. coli serogroup O103. Scanning electron microscopy showed numerous bacteria attached together and closely associated with intestinal villi. Transmission electron microscopy revealed effacing lesions characteristic of enteropathogenic E. coli strains: effacing of microvilli and cuplike projections (pedestal formations) associated with an acute inflammatory and hemorrhagic response. In contrast with the results reported for rabbit pathogenic O15 strains, it appeared that the Peyer's patches were not involved in the early stages of infection with the O103 GV strain. This strain may represent a model for the study of the virulence and pathogenic effects of enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic E. coli strains.