Previous studies have connected several factors to intestinal
translocation. For example, hypoxic injury to epithelial cells and
their subsequent reperfusion have been postulated as major
mechanisms. Acidosis via changing tension is another major cause
[11]. Other factors can affect the mucosal barrier and thus increase
translocation, such as nitric oxide, commensal bacteria, and nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs [11,15]. TNF alpha expression is
one of the translocational indicators, and ethanol induced the Caco-
2-mediated TNF-alpha production that is reported in this study
[16]. Moreover, other studies showed that ethanol co-cultured with
E. coli induced higher TNF alpha production [16]. Although translocation
occurred with E. coli and K. pneumoniae in other studies
[12], the findings of this study indicate that S. suis has low ethanol
susceptibility (data not shown) and low cytotoxicity [17]. Hence,
there is a possibility that S. suis is much more likely to induce
translocation after the epithelial cells produce TNF alpha, which is
the same case with E. coli and K. pneumoniae