TRACHEOBRONCHIAL WASHINGS FROM 7 VERTEBRATE SPECIES AS GROWTH MEDIA FOR THE 4 SPECIES OF BORDETELLA

The four species of Bordetella differed in their ability to grow at 37 -degrees-C in membrane-filtered tracheobronchial washings (TBW) from s even vertebrate species, including their natural hosts. From washed in ocula of approximately 2 x 10(3) colony-forming units per ml (cfu ml-1 ), Bordetella bronchiseptica and B. avium grew much better than the ot her two bordetellae and yielded stationary-phase cultures containing 1 0(8)-10(9) cfu ml-1 in most of the TBW samples. These counts were only moderately lower than those attained in CL medium which contains abou t a 450-times higher concentration of amino acids. B. bronchiseptica a nd B. avium also grew to a limited extent in phosphate-buffered saline without nutrient supplements. B. parapertussis grew in TBW from man, sheep, rabbit. mouse and chicken, but not in TBW from a dog and a hors e or in PBS. B. pertussis grew well in CL medium, but not in PBS or in any of 13 samples of TBW from the seven vertebrate species, which inc luded three samples of lung lavage fluid from human patients. Analysis of the TBW samples for known Bordetella nutrients revealed concentrat ions of amino acids and nicotinic acid averaging 0.35 mM and 0.56 mug ml-1 respectively.