Suppression of food intake is linked to enteric inflammation in nematode-infected rats

Our aim was to investigate the cause-effect relationship between intestinal inflammation induced by infection with enteric stages of Trichinella spira lis and decreased host food intake. A suppression of food intake in T. spir alis-infected rats occurred within the first 24 h postinfection (PI) and wa s maximized by day 6 PI. Food intake, cumulated over an 8-day PI period, de creased by 59% compared with uninfected animals. The anti-inflammatory gluc ocorticoid betamethasone 21-phosphate was orally administered to rats in th eir drinking water to suppress T. spiralis-induced jejunal inflammation. Wh en treated with a low dose of glucocorticoid (5.2 mu g/ml), food intake in infected rats was still significantly reduced, but only by 21% compared wit h glucocorticoid-treated, uninfected rats. At the highest glucocorticoid do se (10.4 mu g/ml) administered, infection-induced reduction in food intake was not different from that of glucocorticoid-treated, uninfected counterpa rts. The elevation in jejunal myeloperoxidase activity caused by infection was also significantly blunted by oral glucocorticoid treatment. Our result s suggest that suppressed host food intake during enteric T. spiralis infec tion is directly linked to intestinal inflammation.