Biologic Effects of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Other Mycoplasmas from Man on Hamster Tracheal Organ Culture

Abstract

The applicability of organ culture systems to the study of mycoplasma infections is illustrated by the experiments described. Tracheal organ culture provided a controllable environment for analysis of the interaction between M. pneumoniae and the natural target cell of this pathogen, the ciliated respiratory epithelium. Mycoplasma pneumoniae produced distinct cytopathology in this system that was not seen with other human mycoplasmas tested. In addition, virulent M. pneumoniae produced tissue damage more effectively than did an attenuated strain. The observations suggest that this experimental model may be useful for the analysis of factors contributing to organism pathogenicity.