Studies on the cell tropism of Listeria monocytogenes in ovine fetal brain cell cultures.

The uptake of Listeria monocytogenes by cells in primary dissociated brain cell cultures prepared from ovine fetuses at approximately 50 to 60 days of gestation was studied using a sequential double immunofluorescence technique with antibodies against cell type-specific markers and the bacterial pathogen. Cell cultures were inoculated with bacteria at day 4, 8, and 15 in vitro. Listeria monocytogenes was predominately internalized by CD68-positive macrophages, followed by astrocytes, fibronectin-expressing cells, and neurons. An uptake of the bacterium by galactocerebroside (GC)-positive oligodendrocytes, which were first detected at day 15 in vitro, did not occur. Although a tropism for neurons was not observed, the susceptibility of neurons for infection with Listeria monocytogenes is in accordance with the supposed intraaxonal migration of the bacterium in the pathogenesis of focal brain stem encephalitis. The pattern of the infection rates of ovine brain cell types was similar to that shown in murine fetal brain cell cultures, indicating that there is no species-specific brain cell tropism of the bacterium.