The Growth of Mycoplasma bovigenitalium in Cell Cultures

Abstract

SUMMARYA strain of Mycoplasma bovigenitalium, designated M 120, was grown, and produced a marked cytopathic effect (c.p.e.) in calf-, pig-, and monkeykidney cell cultures. The c.p.e. was characterized by enlargement of the cells, the appearance of intracytoplasmic inclusions and partial destruction of the cell monolayers. A similar c.p.e. was produced in tissue-culture cells following the inoculation of mycoplasma 'toxins'.Comparative growth studies of strain M 120 in calf-kidney cell cultures and in tissue-culture medium alone showed that the organism grew more readily in the presence of cells. The rate of virus production and appearance of c.p.e. of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (I.B.R.) virus was delayed in cultures previously infected with the M 120 strain of mycoplasma as compared with normal cultures.

Cytopathic Effects and Ultrastructure of Mycoplasma agalactiae var. bovis (Donetta strain)

“…L-Arginine deficiency of the culture fluid has been reported as the cause of CPE of some strains of mycoplasma (21,22,30). Additional L-arginine failed to prevent-the C-PE of the Donetta organism, and similar findings have been reported for other species of mycoplasma (1,8).…”

“…Cell culture fluid from monolayers exhibiting advanced CPE would not produce changes in other cell cultures after the fluid was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics (32). These results suggest that the CPE were not due to a soluble toxin and that the cause is probably different from that of another bovine mycoplasma (1).…”

“…Membrane-lined spaces (S) can be seen "within" the mycoplasma, and there is a suggestion ofa deep invagination (V) of one organism. Pelleted monolayer, X 51,000. cellular mycoplasma but rather accumulations of acidophilic cytoplasmic material (1,32).…”

Mycoplasmas and cell cultures.

“…The effects of mycoplasmas on the morphology of contaminated cell lines range from zero (26,135,155,156) to increase in cytoplasmic granularity and retardation of growth (91,185,186) to frank cytopathology (3,9,24,27,54,61,66,76,84,88,137,185,186). The mycoplasmas may have such a drastic effect upon the cell cultures that the whole cell population lyses (92, 94).…”

The Mycoplasma spp. ‘Releasome’: A New Concept for a Long-Known Phenomenon

“…Their work also found evidence that the collodion bag released a mycoplasma-produced component that induced necrosis in the surrounding tissues and might have contributed to cachexia in the rabbit (Lloyd, 1966). Other studies in the 1960s-1970s demonstrated some cellfree molecules released by mycoplasmas, such as polysaccharides or antigens recovered from the body fluids of CBPP-infected animals (Plackett et al, 1963;Gourlay, 1965), nanosized globular elements observed by microscopy in M. pneumoniae broth cultures (Eng and Froholm, 1971), and uncharacterized molecules that had cytotoxic activity in the supernatant of M. bovigenitalium cultures (Afshar, 1967). However, investigators at the time were unable to precisely identify the chemical structure of these elements, as they were unable to purify them from components of the complex growth medium or from body fluids.…”