Experimental murine chronic hepatitis: results following intrahepatic inoculation of human uveitis mycoplasma-like organisms.

Mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO) are non-cultivated intracellular cell-wall deficient pathogenic bacteria with a distinctive ultrastructural appearance. Diagnosis of MLO disease depends on finding the organisms in parasitized cells using a transmission electron microscope. MLO are a well studied cause of transmissible chronic plant disease responsive to antibiotics. MLO have recently been found to cause human chronic uveitis, orbital, and retinal disease with autoimmune features. Ophthalmic leucocytes in these patients display MLO parasitization. Inoculation of human uveitis MLO into mouse eyelids produced chronic uveitis. MLO also disseminated to produce randomly distributed lethal systemic disease including chronic hepatitis. MLO parasitized leucocytes were present in all disease sites. Direct intrahepatic inoculation of human hepatic pathogens is a simple and efficient technique to produce murine hepatitis. This report describes the delayed onset widespread inflammatory liver disease produced by direct intrahepatic inoculation of human chronic uveitis MLO in 12 of 20 mice versus 0 in 40 controls (P < 0.05). The liver disease was accompanied by elevated serum SGOT levels, splenomegaly, and accelerated mortality. All 12 inflamed livers displayed MLO parasitized leucocytes versus 0 of 10 control livers. The resemblance of human chronic active hepatitis, massive hepatic necrosis, and post-necrotic cirrhosis to the MLO induced murine liver disease, the role of molecular biologic techniques in the detection and classification of those bacteria, and in therapy of MLO disease are discussed.