A new rat model links two contemporary theories in irritable bowel syndrome.

Rationale: Two proposed hypotheses for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are acute gastroenteritis and bacterial overgrowth. We studied whether acute infection with Campylobacter could precipitate bacterial overgrowth in a rat model in order to link the two hypotheses.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley outbred rats were randomly administered a vehicle or Campylobacter jejuni strain 81-176 by oral gavage.