Suckling mice aged 4-5 days were injected with Vibrio cholerae hemagglutinin/protease and ultrastructural changes in their small intestine were studied after 5 h. The preparation caused a statistically significant accumulation of fluid in the intestine, appearance of large gaps along cell-cell spaces in the villi and crypts, intense production and secretion of the mucus by goblet cells. The formation of interepithelial cavities was paralleled by vascular changes, supplemented by extravasal disorders caused by mast cell reaction. The role of enterochromaffin cells and lipofibroblasts, modulating the secretion in the intestine, is confirmed.

No abstract

Immature nephrons and the presence of a proteolytic system mediating extracellular protein digestion in the epithelium of proximal tubules are characteristic features of renal cortical ultrastructure in intact 10-12-day-old suckling rabbits. Cholera infection is accompanied by intensive cleavage of exogenous protein, which starts in podocytes and is completed in the cytoplasm of the proximal tubule epitheliocytes. Overload to nephron associated (in addition to urine production) with intensive extracellular hydrolysis impairs nephrothelium reactivity and increases its vulnerability to cholera exo- and endotoxins and their mediators.