Resumo

Gastric ulcer in swine, which are usually located in the pars oesophagea of the stomach, is a prevalent and serious problem in swine production. After the association of Helicobacter pylori with peptic ulcer in humans, other gastric Helicobacter species have been implicated in gastric disease in several animals. Helicobacter suis, the species described in pig’s stomach, was only recently isolated in vitro and data about its association with gastric ulcer in swine are still controversial. Lactobacillus spp. have been isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of healthy pigs, but there is no study comparing the strains isolated from stomachs with and without ulcer. Therefore, bacterial load and diversity of Lactobacillus strains as well as the presence of H. suis was investigated in stomachs with (n=13) and without (n=10) ulcer of the pars oesophagea from slaughtered pigs. Antrum, corpus and pars oesophagea biopsies, obtained with sterile disposable 5 mm biopsy punches, were used for Helicobacter and H. suis nested PCRs and for quantitative Lactobacillus culture on MRS agar. Repetitive sequence-based PCR using (GTG)5 primer was employed to differentiate Lactobacillus isolates. Attempts to culture H. suis were also made. H. suis primary culture was obtained from the gastric mucus of 4 from 8 stomachs with ulcer that were urease-positive. Specific PCRs for Helicobacter genus and H. suis were concordant and positive in 20 (86.9%) animals and did not associate with ulcer of the pars oesophagea (p>0.05). The number of Lactobacillus isolates was significantly greater in the antrum and corpus of stomachs without ulcer (p<0.001 for both). On the other hand, although the number of isolates was also greater in the pars oesophagea of stomachs without ulcer, the difference was not significant between groups (p=0.2). The dendogram based on (GTG)5-PCR fingerprint analysis of the isolates showed unique and distinct profiles when the groups with and without gastric ulcer were compared. Since Lactobacillus strains are usually used as probiotics and the strain profiles between groups were distinct, the strains isolated from healthy stomachs may be good probiotic candidates as an alternative strategy for prevention or treatment of gastric ulcer in swine.