CYTOPATHIC EFFECT OF THE ATYPICAL PNEUMONIA ORGANISM IN CULTURES OF HUMAN TISSUE

Abstract

Eaton, Monroe D. (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.), Ann E. Farnham, Jeana D. Levinthal, and Anthony R. Scala . Cytopathic effect of the atypical pneumonia organism in cultures of human tissue. J. Bacteriol. 84: 1330–1337. 1962.—Three strains of the atypical pneumonia agent were adapted to grow in continuous cell cultures of human amnion or human embryonic lung, with production of initial increased acidity followed by destruction of the cells. Evidence is presented that cytopathic effects of the organism were associated with intracellular growth and formation of microcolonies. Clumps of organisms stained specifically with fluorescein-labeled antibody, and showed distinctive tinctorial reactions with the May Grünwald-Giemsa stain. The cytopathic effect was prevented by fresh serum from a rabbit immunized with an egg-passage strain of the atypical pneumonia agent. Heating the immune serum to 56 C for 30 min abolished the neutralizing effect. The significance of heat-labile serum constituents in killing or inhibition of mycoplasma is discussed.