Investigating host responses and disease pathogenesis in the duodenum of broilers exposed to crude Clostridium perfringens toxin in situ

摘要

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an enteric disease of broilers, which costs the poultry industry $2 billion annually. The main causative agent is Clostridium perfringens type A which produces several toxins involved in the pathogenesis. Host responses to the disease are poorly characterised because of a) the complex pathogenesis and b) difficulties in reproducing the disease experimentally. An in situ broiler model was recently developed which allows closer study of host-pathogen interactions in this multi-factorial disease (Athanasiadou et al, 2011). In the current study the model is used to investigate biological pathways involved in the pathogenesis and host responses following exposure to crude C. perfringens toxin.