Morphometric Assessment of the Influence of <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> Strains with Different Set of Virulence Determinants on Experimental Animal Organism
Comparison of clinical and morphological analysis data and the results of morphometric assessment of changes in suckling rabbits infected intra-intestinally with cholera vibrios with different set of virulence determinants proved the presence of ctxA gene in <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> genome to be the necessary condition for the development of choleragen reaction. Experimental infection in this case is followed by the excess of the considered morphometric parameters in kidneys and liver in comparison with those of the intact animals. Changes in suckling rabbits infected with ctxA<sup>-</sup> strains are mainly of the adaptive and compensatory character and are determined by ZOT and ACE toxins of <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> to some extent. The reaction of the suckling rabbits` intestinal apudocytes depends on the genotype of <i>V. cholerae</i> strains used for challenge and correlates with the intensity of morphological changes in the intestine and internal organs of experimental animals.