An Electron Microscope Study of Thin Sections of Haemophilus Vaginalis (Gardner and Dukes) and Some Possibly Related Species

Abstract

The line structure of Haemophilus vaginalis (Gardner and Dukes 1955) was compared with that of four, possibly related species (Butyribacterium rettgeri, Corynebacterium diphtheriae var. mitis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Haemophilus influenzae) and an unrelated species, Neisseria haemolysans, which had shown a similar degree of Gram-variability as that of H. vaginalis. Although H. vaginalis was first described as a Gram-negative rod, its fine structure, particularly that of cell wall and septa, was more like that of Gram-positive organisms. Also N. haemolysans had a fine structure close to that of Gram-positive organisms, and its typical Gram-positive cell wall varied in. thickness from one cell to another.The study did not solve the problem of the classification of the so-called H. vaginalis, but the appearance of the few strains studied in the electron microscope suggests that it: should be included in Corynebacterium or Butyribacterium rather than in Lactobacillus.

Electron Microscopy of Adhesive Interactions between Gardnerella vaginalis and Vaginal Epithelial Cells, McCoy Cells and Human Red Blood Cells

“…Transmission electron microscopy of G. vaginalis has been reported (Reyn et al, 1966;Crisswell et al, 1972;Greenwood, 1983). Evidence of fibrillar material adhering to the cell wall has been found (Crisswell et al, 1972;Greenwood, 1983).…”

Gardnerella vaginalis: characteristics, clinical considerations, and controversies

“…Reyn et al (188) provided the first ultrastructural evidence of the gram-positive character of G. vaginalis (Fig. 2) wall is relatively thin compared with the walls of reference strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Butyribacterium rettgei, and Lactobacillus acidophilus.…”

“…A flocculent (82,188) or fibrillar (49) exterior layer was visualized by electron microscopy ( Fig. 2), and ruthenium red staining indicated that it has a polysaccharide component (80).…”

Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Gardnerella vaginalis

“…It has been suggested that the organism is gram negative because of the presence of very little mucopeptide, the amino acid composition of the cell wall (2), and a "lipopolysaccharide-like" fraction (5); others suggest that it is gram positive on the basis of its pattern of septum formation (17), the absence of diaminopimelic acid (6), and its lipopolysaccharide (20). However, the results of the present susceptibility study are consistent with the notion that G. vaginalis is neither typically gram positive nor typically gram negative, since antimicrobial agents regarded as specifically active against gram-positive or gram-negative organisms showed relatively poor activity.…”