Shih Chien-Ming, Chao Li-Lian, Yu Chia-Pan
Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2002 May;66(5):616-21. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2002.66.616.
The migration of Lyme disease spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi) toward salivary gland extracts (SGEs) of vector ticks was determined by a modified U-tube chemotaxis assay. Responses of cultured spirochetes to the SGEs were measured by dark-field microscopy at intervals after the initial inoculation. The average numbers of spirochetes that migrated were compared between U-tubes containing either SGEs or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Spirochetes showed increased migration in tubes containing SGE, and migration was approximately 10-20-fold higher than that for spirochetes observed in tubes containing PBS. In addition, the span of migration showed no significant difference relative to the origin of spirochete isolation. These results demonstrate that spirochete migration can be enhanced by SGEs from fed vector ticks. This mechanism may contribute to the novel transmission of Lyme disease spirochetes between cofeeding infected and uninfected ticks in nature.
通过改良的U型管趋化试验确定莱姆病螺旋体（伯氏疏螺旋体）向媒介蜱唾液腺提取物（SGEs）的迁移。在初次接种后的不同时间间隔，通过暗视野显微镜测量培养的螺旋体对SGEs的反应。比较含有SGEs或磷酸盐缓冲盐水（PBS）的U型管之间迁移的螺旋体平均数量。螺旋体在含有SGE的管中迁移增加，并且迁移率比在含有PBS的管中观察到的螺旋体高出约10 - 20倍。此外，迁移范围相对于螺旋体分离的来源没有显著差异。这些结果表明，进食后的媒介蜱的SGEs可以增强螺旋体的迁移。这种机制可能有助于莱姆病螺旋体在自然界中共同进食的感染蜱和未感染蜱之间的新传播。
