EVALUATION OF CECAL LIGATION AS A MODEL OF MUCOID ENTEROPATHY IN SPECIFIC-PATHOGEN-FREE RABBITS

Mucoid enteropathy is a serious disease of rabbits, the cause of which is unknown, Ligation of the cecum has been reported to cause a mucoid enteropathy-like syndrome in 70% of conventional rabbits, The goal of this study was to evaluate this model of mucoid enteropathy in Pasteu rella-free, coccidia-free rabbits for use in future studies, Five rabb its served as unoperated controls (group 1), Eight rabbits underwent l igation of the cecum, with large vessels and nerves spared (group 2), In six rabbits the distal branch of the ileocecocolic vessels and nerv e were incorporated into the cecal ligature (group 3), At necropsy 3 t o 5 days after surgery, all group-3 rabbits had copious amounts of cle ar, gelatinous mucus in the colon, Only one group-a rabbit had grossly evident mucus hypersecretion, whereas none of the group-1 rabbits did , Group-3 rabbits had areas of necrosis in the cecum; this was not see n in group-1 or group-2 rabbits, Rabbits of groups 2 and 3 had inflamm ation of the distal portion of the colon, In specific-pathogen-free ra bbits cecal ligation alone did not reliably stimulate mucus hypersecre tion but induced a disease similar 60 natural mucoid enteropathy, Ceca l ligation including vessels provided a reproducible syndrome of mucus hypersecretion; however, the severe cecal necrosis was not consistent with the naturally acquired disease.