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Infection and Immunity, January 2008, p. 71-77, Vol. 76, No. 1
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00871-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum Invades Chicken Erythrocytes during Infection{triangledown}

Gunther Vogl,1 Astrid Plaickner,1 Susan Szathmary,2 László Stipkovits,2 Renate Rosengarten,1 and Michael P. Szostak1*

Institute of Bacteriology, Mycology and Hygiene, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria,1 Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Science, Krt 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary2

Received 27 June 2007/ Returned for modification 7 August 2007/ Accepted 15 October 2007

Recently, it was demonstrated using in vitro assays that the avian pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum is able to invade nonphagocytic cells. It was also shown that this mycoplasma can survive and multiply intracellularly for at least 48 h and that this cell invasion capacity contributes to the systemic spread of M. gallisepticum from the respiratory tract to the inner organs. Using the gentamicin invasion assay and a differential immunofluorescence technique combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy, we were able to demonstrate in in vitro experiments that M. gallisepticum is also capable of invading sheep and chicken erythrocytes. The frequencies of invasion of three well-defined M. gallisepticum strains were examined over a period of 24 h, and a significant increase in invasiveness occurred after 8 h of infection. In addition, blood samples derived from chickens experimentally infected via the aerosol route with the virulent strain M. gallisepticum Rlow were analyzed. Surprisingly, M. gallisepticum Rlow was detected in the bloodstream of infected chickens by nested PCR, as well as by differential immunofluorescence and interference contrast microscopy that showed that mycoplasmas were not only on the surface but also inside chicken erythrocytes. This finding provides novel insight into the pathomechanism of M. gallisepticum and may have implications for the development of preventive strategies.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Bacteriology, Mycology and Hygiene, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria. Phone: 43-1-25077-2104. Fax: 43-1-25077-2190. E-mail: michael.szostak{at}vu-wien.ac.at

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 22 October 2007.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, January 2008, p. 71-77, Vol. 76, No. 1
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00871-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

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