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Infection and Immunity, November 2004, p. 6702-6706, Vol. 72, No. 11
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.11.6702-6706.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Variations in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly Culture Medium Modulate Infectivity and Pathogenicity of Borrelia burgdorferi Clinical Isolates

Departments of Microbiology & Immunology,¹ Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York²

Received 18 March 2004/ Returned for modification 19 April 2004/ Accepted 15 June 2004

The effects of variations in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK) medium on the infectivity and pathogenicity of Borrelia burgdorferi clinical isolates were assessed by retrospective and prospective studies using a murine model of Lyme borreliosis. Thirty of 35 (86%) mice infected with any of six virulent B. burgdorferi clinical isolates grown in a BSK-H medium developed clinically apparent arthritis. By contrast, arthritis was observed in only 25 of 60 (42%) mice inoculated with two of these B. burgdorferi strains grown in a different lot of BSK-H medium (P < 0.001). In a prospective study, mice inoculated with a B. burgdorferi clinical isolate grown in a BSK medium prepared in-house produced significantly greater disease than those injected with the same isolate cultured in BSK-H medium (P < 0.05). The attenuated pathogenicity is not due to the loss of plasmids during in vitro cultivation. The data suggest that variations in BSK medium have a significant impact on the infectivity and pathogenicity of B. burgdorferi clinical isolates.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

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