The Morphology of Treponema Pallidum in the Electron Microscope

Electron Microscopy of Axial Fibrils, Outer Envelope, and Cell Division of Certain Oral Spirochetes

“…The results lpresented here will necessitate a reconsideration of the validity of this difference as a criterion to distinguish between bacterial flagella and axial fibrils. The observations made by earlier workers (_Morton and Anderson, 1942;MIudd et al, 1943;Wile and Kearney, 1943;Hampp et al, 1948;1Ioureau and Giuntini, 1956;IMorton et al, 1951) of terminal or subterminal flagellation in spirochetes were most likely due to the disruption of the outer envelope and the consequent release of the axial fibrils, which were only retained at the single end where they Nere inserted, rather than to the breakage of these fibrils, as has been suggested (Bradfield and Cater, 1952;Swain, 1955; Ryter and Pillot, 1963).…”

“…on artificial media. However, soon after the introduction of the electron microscope, a number of investigators began to shed some light on the ultrastructure of spirochetes obtained both from artificial culture media and directly from pathological lesions (AMorton and Anderson, 1942;Wile, Picard, and Kearney, 1942;Wile and Kearney, 1943;'Mudd, Polevitzky, and Anderson, 1943;Hampp, Scott, and Wyckoff, 1948;WAatson et al, 1951; -Morton Rake, anti Rose, 1951). 'lhe majority of these investigators employed shadowed preparations which revealed flagellalike structures inserted subterminally on the slirochetal cell.…”

Anatomy and chemistry of spirochetes.

“…In addition to this large spirochete, both control and infected pigs contain on their mucosal surfaces small-and medium-sized spirochetes, approximately 4 to 5 by 0.2 to 0.21 nm, which are considered indigenous to the animal (176). Syphilis Some of the earliest ultrastructural studies of spirochete-host associations involved studies of T. pallidum from human syphilitic lesions (134,162,231,232). For these morphological studies, material was removed from a lesion, placed in suspension, and then examined microscopically.…”

ULTRASTRUCTURE OFTREPONEMA MICRODENTIUMANDBORRELIA VINCENTII

“…He believed that the axial filament was responsible for movement of the organism and that it differed from a true flagellum only in that it was intracellular and not extracellular. The first electron micrographs of spirochetes usually showed a cell envelope, an axial filament, and a protoplasmic cylinder, as well as a large number of fine threadlike appendages frequently interpreted as flagella or terminal filaments (Wile, Picard, and Kearney, 1942; Wile and Kearney, 1943;Mudd, Polevitzky, and Anderson, 1943; Hampp, Scott, and Wyckoff, 1948). Swain (1955), in a study of five species of spirochetes pathogenic for man, observed no true flagella.…”