Johnson L, Wirostko E, Wirostko W
Department of Pathology, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY 10032.
Br J Exp Pathol. 1988 Apr;69(2):265-79.
Plant pathologists have known for several years that intracellular Mollicutes (M), i.e. cell wall deficient bacteria, are plant vascular pathogens, but because those M are non-cultivatable, they can only be studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Only recently have similar M been shown to be human and animal pathogens. Those human ocular Vasculitis (V) and mouse chronic ocular and lethal systemic V producing M parasitize vitreous polymorphonuclear leucocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes as 'viral-like' 0.005-0.010 micron elemental particles which grow within the leucocyte into 0.01-0.03 micron diameter tubules, 0.3-1.5 micron spherules, and distinctive 0.5-0.7 micron cocci with spore-like cell walls. This report describes the 48 arteriolar and capillary sized V, Aschoff nodules, valvulitis, and myocytolytic lesions in the heart and great vessels in 18 of 100 human vitreous VM containing eyelid inoculated mice versus 0 of 200 controls (P less than 0.05) plus VM within parasitized leucocytes in 15 of 15 of those lesions by TEM. The results indicate dissemination of VM from the eyelid to produce a significant incidence of distinctive multifocal VM directly induced cardiovascular micro-V lesions that probably contributed to their excessive mortality. Because several human idiopathic diseases develop similar cardiovascular lesions a TEM search for VM parasitized leucocytes in those human diseases seems justified.
植物病理学家多年来一直知道，细胞内的支原体（M），即细胞壁缺陷型细菌，是植物维管束病原体，但由于这些支原体无法培养，只能通过透射电子显微镜（TEM）进行研究。直到最近，类似的支原体才被证明是人类和动物病原体。那些导致人类眼部血管炎（V）以及小鼠慢性眼部和致死性全身性血管炎的支原体，会寄生于玻璃体中的多形核白细胞、淋巴细胞和单核细胞内，形成“病毒样”的0.005 - 0.010微米的基本颗粒，这些颗粒在白细胞内生长为直径0.01 - 0.03微米的小管、0.3 - 1.5微米的球状体以及具有孢子样细胞壁的独特的0.5 - 0.7微米球菌。本报告描述了100只接种眼睑含人类玻璃体血管炎支原体（VM）的小鼠中有18只出现的48个小动脉和毛细血管大小的血管炎、阿绍夫小体、瓣膜炎以及心脏和大血管中的肌细胞溶解病变，而200只对照小鼠中无一出现（P小于0.05），并且通过透射电子显微镜在其中15个病变的寄生白细胞内发现了VM。结果表明，VM从眼睑扩散，导致明显的独特多灶性VM直接诱发心血管微血管病变，这可能是它们高死亡率的原因。由于几种人类特发性疾病会出现类似的心血管病变，因此在这些人类疾病中通过透射电子显微镜搜索VM寄生的白细胞似乎是合理的。
