[Electron microscopic study of the small intestine in experimental cholera].

Ultrastructure of the small intestine was studied in nursling rabbits infected with the El Tor 5879 vibrio culture. Cholera vibrio was localized in the intestinal lumen mostly in the crypts area, in some places adhering to the brush edge of enterocytes without penetrating them. Epithelium of the villae remained intact; it however displayed dystrophic changes of microvilli and organoids, cytoplasma vacuolization and increase in lysosome count. The mentioned changes pointed to a marked elevation of functional enterocyte activity in cholera.