Rapid production of ulcerative disease of the colon in newly-weaned guinea-pigs by degraded carrageenan.

In a dose-response study, degraded carrageenan (Eucheuma spinosum) was supplied in the drinking fluid at 1.2 and 3% concentrations over two weeks to young adult guinea-pigs. Ulceration of the large bowel was produced in 100% of animals, the severity and extent of damage probably being dose-related. In a time-course study, 3% degraded carrageenan solution supplied to newly-weaned guinea-pigs produced in 100% of animals ulceration in the caecum by four days and in the ascending colon by seven days. The onset of ulceration occurred as early as the second day. This model is convenient and economic for the screening of drugs of potential therapeutic value in human ulcerative colitis.