Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research Unit, USDA Agriculture Research Service, National Animal Disease Center, Ames, Iowa, USA.
Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa, USA.
J Comp Pathol. 2021 Nov;189:98-109. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2021.10.004. Epub 2021 Nov 17.
Leptospirosis is a world-wide zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira and can be asymptomatic or can cause clinical signs ranging from influenza-like to multi-organ failure and death in severe cases. While species and strain specificity can play a major role in disease presentation, the hamster is susceptible to most leptospiral infections and is the model of choice for vaccine efficacy testing. During evaluation of blood smears from hamsters challenged with different species and strains of Leptospira, a circulating population of large, mononuclear, lipid-filled cells, most similar to foamy macrophages (FMs), was detected. Circulating FMs were identified by Giemsa staining and verified by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. FMs were found in the circulating blood of all Leptospira-challenged hamsters, indicating that the finding was not species or strain specific, although higher numbers of FMs tended to correlate with severity of disease. The unique finding of circulating FMs in the hamster model of leptospirosis can yield additional insights into the pathogenesis of leptospirosis and other diseases that induce circulating FMs.
钩端螺旋体病是一种由致病性钩端螺旋体引起的世界性人畜共患疾病，可无临床症状，也可引起从流感样到多器官衰竭的临床症状，严重者可导致死亡。虽然物种和菌株特异性可能在疾病表现中起主要作用，但仓鼠易感染大多数钩端螺旋体感染，是疫苗效力测试的首选模型。在评估感染不同种和株钩端螺旋体的仓鼠的血涂片时，检测到了一种循环的大型单核、富含脂质的细胞群体，这些细胞最类似于泡沫巨噬细胞（FMs）。通过吉姆萨染色鉴定循环 FMs，并通过扫描和透射电子显微镜验证。在所有感染钩端螺旋体的仓鼠的循环血液中都发现了 FMs，这表明这一发现与物种或菌株特异性无关，尽管 FMs 的数量较高往往与疾病的严重程度相关。在钩端螺旋体病的仓鼠模型中发现循环 FMs 这一独特现象，可以为钩端螺旋体病和其他诱导循环 FMs 的疾病的发病机制提供更多的见解。
