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Spiroplasma mirum (suckling mouse cataract agent) was studied in an epithelial cell line AG-4676, derived from rabbit eye lens. Rabbit eye lens is a natural target tissue of S. mirum infection. The organism grew rapidly in this cell line, reaching titers of 10(7) to 10(9) color change units per ml at 7 days after infection. This is the same level as that achieved in SP-4 medium designed specifically for S. mirum. No lag period was apparent in growth in AG-4676. S. mirum did not grow in Dulbecco minimal essential medium-10% fetal bovine serum, the medium for AG-4676, indicating the need for cells or a cellular product. S. mirum-infected AG-4676 cells exhibited vacuolization and granulation and an increase in polynucleation compared with uninfected controls (36/100 versus 14/100, P less than 0.001). Infection significantly decreased the growth rate of AG-4676, especially late in the growth cycle. In a representative experiment, growth of AG-4676 at 11 days was reduced from 9 X 10(5) to 2 X 10(4) cells by S. mirum infection. S. mirum grew to high titers in conditioned medium of AG-4676, obtained from cell-free supernatants of 1- to 5-day-old AG-4676 cultures. This growth promotion was not due to osmotic conditioning of the medium. Preliminary characterization of this growth promotion substance showed it to be active after 0.22-micron filtration, heating at 56 degrees C for 30 min, freezing and thawing, and dilution at 10(-1) but not 10(-2). AG-4676-propagated S. mirum produced death or cataracts in suckling Wistar rats at the same frequency (55/60, 91.7%) as SP-4-propagated organisms (60/65, 92.3%).

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The short-term (6 wks) GI tolerance of conventional NSAIDs does not differ whether or not the patients are infected by H. pylori. The tendency observed for the medium term (12 wks) deserves to be confirmed.

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