Casson Nicola, Entenza José Manuel, Borel Nicole, Pospischil Andreas, Greub Gilbert
Center for Research on Intracellular Bacteria (CRIB), Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Microb Pathog. 2008 Aug;45(2):92-7. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2008.04.003. Epub 2008 Apr 18.
The role of Parachlamydia acanthamoebae as an agent of pneumonia is suggested by sero-epidemiological studies, molecular surveys and by the permissivity of macrophages, lung fibroblasts and pneumocytes to this obligate intracellular bacteria. We thus developed a murine model of pneumonia due to Parachlamydia. Mice were inoculated intratracheally with Parachlamydia acanthamoebae. Pneumonia-associated mortality was of 50% 5 days post-inoculation. Lungs histopathology was characterized by purulent and interstitial pneumonia. The presence of Parachlamydia in the lesions was demonstrated by PCR, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Moreover, living Parachlamydia could be recovered from the lungs of infected mice using amoebal co-culture. All control mice inoculated with heat-inactivated bacteria were free of symptoms and survived. Thus, we demonstrated that Parachlamydia induce a severe pneumonia in mice. This animal model, which confirms the third and fourth Koch postulates, may be suitable to test in vivo efficient therapeutic regimens against Parachlamydia.
血清流行病学研究、分子调查以及巨噬细胞、肺成纤维细胞和肺细胞对这种专性胞内细菌的易感性表明，棘阿米巴嗜衣原体是肺炎的病原体。因此，我们建立了一种由棘阿米巴嗜衣原体引起的小鼠肺炎模型。将小鼠经气管内接种棘阿米巴嗜衣原体。接种后5天，肺炎相关死亡率为50%。肺部组织病理学特征为化脓性和间质性肺炎。通过PCR、免疫组织化学和电子显微镜证实病变中存在嗜衣原体。此外，使用变形虫共培养可以从感染小鼠的肺中回收活的嗜衣原体。所有接种热灭活细菌的对照小鼠均无症状并存活。因此，我们证明了嗜衣原体可在小鼠中诱发严重肺炎。这个动物模型证实了科赫第三和第四假设，可能适合在体内测试针对嗜衣原体的有效治疗方案。
