[The role of flagella of Campylobacter jejuni in colonization in the intestinal tract in mice and the cultured-cell infectivity].

For analyzing the role of the bacterial flagella in colonization in the intestinal tract of mice and adhering to or invading the Intestine 407 cell, a nonflagellated, nonmotile mutant was induced by ultraviolet irradiation of a flagellated, motile wild-type strain of Campylobacter jejuni CF84-340. There was no great difference in the cellular infectivity to the Intestine 407 cells between the wild-type and the mutant strains. Cellular adherence and invasiveness were then compared by fluorescent antibody staining, and an obvious difference was found in the latter. While 21.4% of the organisms of the wied-type strain invaded the cells, only 6.1% of those of the flagella-defective mutant did so. In the experiments in mice involving oral administration, cellular invasiveness was not found with the flagella-defective mutant and no organisms were detected from the blood, although bacteremia is one of the characteristics of infection with C. jejuni. Moreover, no intestinal adherence of the mutant was detected, suggesting early elimination of the organism administered. These results indicate that the bacterial flagella are concerned in not only the cellular adherence and intestinal deposit, but also the intracellular invasiveness and invasion into the blood stream from the intestinal wall in the infected mice.