CHANGES IN MUCOSAL GOBLET CELL-DENSITY IN ACUTE OTITIS-MEDIA CAUSED BY NONTYPABLE HAEMOPHILUS-INFLUENZAE

The correlation between secretory otitis media and increased goblet ce ll density in the middle ear mucosa is well established. Previous stud ies have shown that a single episode of acute otitis media caused by S treptococcus is Followed by increased goblet cell density for a period of at least 6 months, conceivably predisposing a subsequent developme nt of secretory otitis media. In this study, 25 rat middle ears were i noculated with non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae in order to determi ne the effect on mucosal goblet cell density. Five rats were killed on days 4, 8, 16, 60 and 180 postinoculation, followed by dissection, st aining and whole-mount embedding of the middle ear mucosae. The goblet cell density was determined in 24 well-defined localities. Compared w ith 25 normal middle ears, the goblet cell density was significantly i ncreased in almost all localities, at all days on which the animals we re killed. Thus, increased goblet cell density and enlargement of muco sal areas containing goblet cells persisted 6 months after the acute i ncident. The induced increase of goblet cell density was higher than t he increase following inoculation of S. pneumoniae. The conclude that acute otitis media caused by non-typeable H. influenzae is followed by a longstanding increase in mucosal secretory capacity, likely to pred ispose a subsequent development of secretory otitis media.