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Intestinal Strangulation in Clostridium perfringens-Monocontaminated Rats

Departments of Surgery and Medical Microbiology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

ABSTRACT

Ischemic and hemorrhagic strangulation of closed intestinal segments was studied in germ-free rats individually contaminated with one of seven separate strains of Clostridium perfringens type A. The principal findings were that (i) the monocontaminated rats with ischemic or hemorrhagic intestinal strangulation died at the same rapid rate; (ii) intraintestinal blood did not augment the action of C. perfringens in the presence of ischemic strangulation; (iii) although some strains were more toxic than others, several food-poisoning strains were as rapidly fatal as the classical strains; and (iv) the massive amounts of gas produced by some of these strains probably led to the early rupture of the closed segments and rapid death of the animals. The secondary findings were that (i) the injection of C. perfringens into the lumen of the distal small intestine of the germ-free rat produced the typical lesions of pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis; and (ii) most of the strains of C. perfringens established themselves throughout the gastrointestinal tract of the unoperated germ-free rat.