Cadavid D, Bundoc V, Barbour A G
Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio 78284-7758.
J Infect Dis. 1993 Jul;168(1):143-51. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.1.143.
The spirochetal disease relapsing fever is notable not only for multiphasic antigenic variation but also for central neurologic manifestations. To further characterize involvement of the brain in this disorder, immunocompetent and -deficient mice were infected with Borrelia hermsii. Immunodeficient mice were treated while spirochetemic with neutralizing IgM monoclonal antibodies to the infecting serotype. Blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain tissue were examined by culture and polymerase chain reaction. In immunocompetent mice, antigenic variation occurred in the brain as well as in the blood. In immunodeficient mice, the infecting serotype was still present in the brain after it had been eliminated from the blood by the administered antibodies. These latter results cannot be accounted for by contamination of brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid by blood and, hence, establish the direct involvement of the central nervous system in this experimental infection.
螺旋体病回归热不仅以多相抗原变异著称，还以中枢神经系统表现为特点。为了进一步明确脑部在这种疾病中的受累情况，将免疫功能正常和免疫功能缺陷的小鼠感染赫氏疏螺旋体。对免疫缺陷小鼠在螺旋体血症阶段用针对感染血清型的中和性IgM单克隆抗体进行治疗。通过培养和聚合酶链反应对血液、脑脊液和脑组织进行检查。在免疫功能正常的小鼠中，抗原变异在血液和脑部均有发生。在免疫缺陷小鼠中，感染血清型在被给予的抗体从血液中清除后仍存在于脑部。后一结果不能用血液对脑组织和脑脊液的污染来解释，因此，证实了中枢神经系统在这种实验性感染中的直接受累。
