Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology1 and
2. Department of Physiology and Biophysics,2 University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Murine chronic respiratory disease is characterized by persistent colonization of tracheal and bronchial epithelial cell surfaces by
Mycoplasma pulmonis
, submucosal and intraluminal immune and inflammatory cells, and altered airway activity. To determine the direct effect of
M. pulmonis
upon transepithelial ion transport in the absence of immune and inflammatory cell responses, primary mouse tracheal epithelial cell monolayers (MTEs) were apically infected and assayed in Ussing chambers.
M. pulmonis
-infected MTEs, but not those infected with a nonmurine mycoplasma, demonstrated reductions in amiloride-sensitive Na
+
absorption, cyclic AMP, and cholinergic-stimulated Cl
−
secretion and transepithelial resistance. These effects were shown to require interaction of viable organisms with the apical surface of the monolayer and to be dependent upon organism number and duration of infection. Altered transport due to
M. pulmonis
was not merely a result of epithelial cell death as evidenced by the following: (i) active transport of Na
+
and Cl
−
, albeit at reduced rates; (ii) normal cell morphology, including intact tight junctions, as demonstrated by electron microscopy; (iii) maintenance of a mean transepithelial resistance of 440 Ω/cm
2
; and (iv) lack of leakage of fluid from the basolateral to the apical surface of the monolayer. Alteration in epithelial ion transport in vitro is consistent with impaired pulmonary clearance and altered airway function in
M. pulmonis
-infected animals. Furthermore, the ability of
M. pulmonis
to alter transport without killing the host cell may explain its successful parasitism and long-term persistence in the host. Further study of the MTE-
M. pulmonis
model should elucidate the molecular mechanisms which mediate this reduction in transepithelial ion transport.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
15 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献