Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York.
J Exp Med. 1912 Feb 1;15(2):201-4. doi: 10.1084/jem.15.2.201.
When many cultures of Treponema pallidum, whether obtained from the testicular lesions produced in rabbits or directly from human cases of syphilis, are compared, certain definite differences in morphological character become apparent. The different specimens can be divided into thicker and thinner forms or types, and an average or normal form or type. The last is the common or most frequent variety, but the other two occur with sufficient frequency and retain their characters with such constancy as to constitute distinct varieties. Indeed, two of the varieties-the average and the thinner-occurred in association in a chancre and were separated afterwards in cultures. The gross cultural properties of the three varieties present no points of distinction. The lesions caused in the testicle of the rabbit differ according to the variety inoculated, and consist either of a diffuse or of a nodular orchitis. This is a highly important distinction, and if, in the study of a still larger number of specimens of pallida, it is maintained, it is capable of throwing light on certain important clinical features of the human syphilitic disease. The thinner variety of Treponema pallidum resembles in morphology Treponema microdentium, from which it is unmistakably distinguished by cultural characters. The morphological and pathogenic variations in cultures of the pallidum may constitute racial differences within the species.
当比较来自兔睾丸病变的或直接来自人类梅毒病例的多种苍白密螺旋体时，在形态特征上出现某些明显的差异。不同的标本可分为较厚和较薄的形式或类型，以及平均或正常的形式或类型。最后一种是常见或最常见的变种，但其他两种以足够的频率发生，并保持其特征的恒定性，构成明显的变种。实际上，两种变种——平均和较薄——在一个下疳中同时出现，随后在培养物中分离。三种变种的粗培养特性没有明显的区别。在兔睾丸中引起的病变根据接种的变种而不同，包括弥漫性或结节性睾丸炎。这是一个非常重要的区别，如果在研究更多的苍白密螺旋体标本时保持这一区别，它有可能阐明人类梅毒疾病的某些重要临床特征。苍白密螺旋体的较薄变种在形态上与密螺旋体微齿菌相似，通过培养特征可以明确区分。苍白密螺旋体在培养中的形态和发病变化可能构成种内的种族差异。
