Gut explant cultures represent fragments of the whole gut section with its mucosa, maintained ex vivo, which closely mirror the key characteristics of the organ in living animals. A major advantage of this model is its preserved polarized and layered structure, which enables essential cell-to-cell interactions. The aim of the study was an establishment of a chicken ileal explant culture to study the pathogenic effect of Salmonella Enteritidis pathogen to assess the compatibility of a chicken ileal explant culture with bacteria. Regarding our results, the hematoxylin and eosin-stained histology sections of a chicken ileum had a normal tissue architecture not only in the control group but also in the infected group. Gene expression analysis shows significant up-regulation of four genes (IL-22, IL-6, TNF-? and CK18), demonstrating the ability of the ileal explant culture to effectively respond to infection. Moreover, measurement of metabolic activity in ileal explants showed that metabolic activity was still relatively high after 4 h of infection, indicating good cell viability of tissue explants outside the body under conditions of high bacterial infection. In conclusion, this novel model may replicate the in vivo environment of the chicken intestine, incorporating all its layers and its ability to study host-pathogen interactions.
chicken; explant culture; inflammation; qPCR; pathogen
Kiššová, Z., Vinclérová, V., Herich, R., Mudroňová, D., Karaffová, V. (2025): Establishment of a Chicken Ileal Explant Culture for Microbial Investigation. Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica, 56, 3, 2, DOI: 10.7160/sab.2025.560311