Role of gastric pH in isolation of Helicobacter mustelae from the feces of ferrets

Background: Helicobacter mustelae colonizes the gastric mucosa of ferrets and causes persistent chronic gastritis. Methods: Hypochlorhydria, as measured by gastric pH probe, was induced by administering oral omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor of the parietal cell, to adult ferrets in two separate experiments. Feces of ferrets were cultured for H. mustelae before, during, and after omeprazole therapy. Results: H. mustelae was isolated in 23 of 55 (41.8%) sequential fecal samples collected during omeprazole therapy. The same ferrets with acidic gastric pH had H. mustelae isolated in 6 of 62 (9.7%) of the fecal cultures (P < 0.01). A DNA species-specific H. mustelae probe confirmed the presence of the organism in both the stomach and feces of all 5 ferrets. In 4 of 5 ferrets restriction enzyme patterns of the gastric H. mustelae were identical to those of the fecal H. mustelae strains. Conclusions: Hypochlorhydria promotes fecal transmission of a gastric Helicobacter organism. The H. mustelae-colonized ferret provides an ideal model to study the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori-induced gastritis.