Invasiveness of Salmonella typhimurium in HEp-2 cell cultures pre-infected with Mycoplasma hominis and Mycoplasma orale.

The influence of mycoplasma infection on the in vitro invasiveness of S. typhimurium in HEp-2 cell cultures has been tested. Two strains of arginine-utilizing mycoplasma species Mycoplasma hominis and M. orale both seemed to inhibit the bacterial in vitro invasiveness. Both the ratio of infected cells and the number of intracellular bacteria per cell were reduced in the mycoplasma-infected cultures.