Interaction between a trachoma strain of Chlamydia trachomatis and mouse fibroblasts (McCoy cells) in the absence of centrifugation.

A system was devised for studying the interaction of a trachoma strain of Chlamydia trachomatis (G17) and mouse fibroblasts (McCoy cells) in the absence of centrifugation, which is usually employed to enhance the infection of cell cultures with non-lymphogranuloma venereum human strains of C. trachomatis. In this system, the conditions of infection more closely approached those encountered in natural infections, and the entry of G17 into host cells could be compared with the previously described entry of C. psittaci 6BC and a lymphogranuloma venereum strain (440L) of C. trachomatis. McCoy cells were infected by shaking at 37 degrees C with inocula suspended in 0.01 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 0.2 M sucrose. The efficiency of infection (inclusion counts without centrifugation/inclusion counts with centrifugation) was 1.5% for monolayers and 7.5% for suspensions. When measured either by inclusion counts or by host cell-associated 14C-amino acid-labeled G17, association was proportional to G17 concentration and increased linearly for 60 min. Pretreatment of host cells with diethylaminoethyl-dextran (30 micrograms/ml, 30 min) raised the efficiency of infection to about 13% for both monolayers and suspensions. Host cells treated with cytochalasin B (2 x 10(-5) M, 90 min) or trypsin (50 micrograms/ml, 60 min) associated with G17 at undiminished rates. 14C-labeled G17 inactivated by heat (60 degrees C, 3 min) or ultraviolet light (1,800 ergs per mm2) associated with McCoy cells at the same rate as live G17. Comparison of these results with those previously reported for strains 6BC and 440L showed that strain G17 exhibited some, but not all, of the host cell association properties of the other two chlamydial strains.