THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PATHOLOGICAL GASTRIC CHANGES AND HELICOBACTER SPP. IN DOGS

Abstract

A study of canine, gastric, Helicobacter spp. infection was performed. A total of 56 biopsied samples of cardia, fundus, body and pyloric antrum, submitted to the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, during October, 2001 to 2002, were investigated. The objective of this study was to detect Helicobacter spp. infections in the stomach of dogs and to confirm any relationship between the histopathological changes in the stomach with the presence of bacteria. The histopathological results revealed inflammatory cell infiltration 100%(56/56), crypt distortion 69.64%(39/56), lymphoid follicular formation 67.86% (38/56) and epithelial degeneration 28.57%(16/56). The presence of Helicobacter spp. using Hematoxylin & Eosin(H&E) staining, revealed positive totals of 53.57%(30/56), with Warthin Starry staining, 89.29%(50/56) and by immunohistochemistry 85.71%(48/56). Helicobacter spp. were localized in the luminal crypt 87.50%(49/56), the gastric gland 71.29%(40/56), the gastric epithelium and the gastric pit 67.86%(38/56). There were no significantly different histopathological changes in any part of the stomach (p>0.05). The number of Helicobacter spp. was not significantly different in each part of stomach (p>0.05). The present study revealed significantly different correlations for bacterial detection between H&E and Warthin Starry stain (p=0.001) but there was no correlation between bacterial localization and the histopathological changes seen in each part of the stomach (p>0.05).