Tissue culture bilayer models to study attachment and invasion of bacterial pathogens.

Autor: Birkness, Kristin, White, Elizabeth, Bartlett, Jeanine
Zdroj: Methods in Cell Science; 1996, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p211-217, 7p
Abstrakt: A tissue culture bilayer system has been developed as a model to study the mechanisms of attachment and invasion involved in bacterial pathogenesis. The model, incorporating epithelial and endothelial cell layers separated by a microporous membrane, makes it possible to observe and quantify the passage of bacteria through the multiple layers and to study the mechanisms by which they make this passage. The model is adaptable to a variety of microbial pathogens in that any physiologically relevant eucaryotic cells can be substituted for the component layers. Examining a variety of strains of Neisseria meningitidis we found marked differences in their ability to pass through the bilayer with ranges between 80% and <0.01% of the inoculum passing through within a 3-hour period. These differences may correlate with differences in virulence. More recently in a model developed to study the pathogenesis of lower respiratory pathogens we found that while passage of Mycobacterium avium through the bilayer differed little from strain to strain, there was a 10-40 fold difference in Streptococcus pneumoniae passage between strains causing hemorrhagic disease and strains causing pneumonia. The human cell composition and reproducibility of these systems give them advantages over animal and primary organ culture models. Additionally, their added multiple layer complexity allowing cell-to-cell communication makes them more realistic human tissue models than standard cell monolayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index
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