MADIN-DARBY CANINE KIDNEY - A NEW CELL-LINE FOR PNEUMOCYSTIS-CARINII IN-VITRO CULTURE

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is a highly frequent cause of mor bidity and mortality in immunocompromised subjects, particularly in HI V-infected ones. The biology of P. carinii is poorly understood becaus e of the lack of reliable synthetic media or adequate cell lines to gr ow this opportunistic pathogen in continuous culture. We reported the suitability of the MDCK (Madin Darby Canine Kidney, ATTC CCL 34) cell line to support the temporary microorganism's growth in vitro and the experimental pharmacological trials, in comparison with the HEL 299 ce ll line, used as reference standard.