Ctkh. Stadtlander et S. Madoff, CHARACTERIZATION OF CYTOPATHOGENICITY OF AQUARIUM SEAL MYCOPLASMAS AND SEAL FINGER MYCOPLASMAS BY LIGHT AND SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY, Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, 280(4), 1994, pp. 458-467
Two recent mycoplasma isolates (one from an aquarium seal and one from
a patient with the clinical entity known as seal finger) have been ev
aluated for cytopathogenicity in tracheal explant cultures. Examinatio
ns were performed in direct comparison to Mycoplasma phocidae, an isol
ate from an epidemic of seal pneumonia along the New England coast (US
A) in 1979-1980. The study revealed similar inhibitory effects on cili
ated tracheal epithelial cells and clumping of cilia by attached mycop
lasmas; no exfoliation of respiratory epithelial cells was observed. I
n addition, cytopathic effects caused by the mycoplasmas were distingu
ished from effects of aging in non-infected explants under long-term i
n-vitro cultivation conditions. The general meaning of mycoplasmas in
seals is discussed in detail in this paper.