Studies of ciliated epithelia of the human genital tract. 3: Mucociliary wave activity in organ cultures of human Fallopian tubes challenged with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and gonococcal endotoxin.

Abstract

Quantatitive determinations of the mucociliary activity of human Fallopian tube epithelium maintained as organ cultures were performed using a light beam reflex method. In noninfected organ cultures the mucociliary wave (MCW) frequency slowly decreased during the first 54 hours of culture maintenance. In organ cultures experimentally infected with fresh isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae producing T1/T2 colonies the MCW frequency either decreased to subnormal values or completely ceased whereas in organ cultures infected with a laboratoryadapted gonococcal strain the MCW frequencies remained within normal range. In organ cultures exposed to gonococcal endotoxin prepared from the laboratory-adapted strain, as well as in cultures in which cell-free filtrates of medium from organ cultures infected with N. gonorrhoeae (producing T1/T2 colonies) were added to the culture medium, the ciliary activity decreased and subsequently ceased. The same phenomenon occurred when organ cultures were challenged with Escherichia coli endotoxin. The ciliostatic effect appeared before any morphological changes in the surface epithelium, including the cilia, were demonstrable by scanning electron microscopy.

Gonococcal and meningococcal pathogenesis as defined by human cell, cell culture, and organ culture assays

“…Gonococcal peptidoglycan fragments also damage FTOC ciliary activity (42). Both piliated and nonpiliated gonococci and meningococci damage FTOC and NPOC ciliary activity (36,39,57), but piliated organisms damage ciliary activity more rapidly than nonpiliated organisms do. Ciliated cells of the FTOC were damaged by <10 ,ug of purified gonococcal or meningococcal LPS per ml (19).…”

“…Infection with the commensal species N. subflava did not result in significant damage to human FTOC or NPOC ciliary activity. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) appears to be a major toxin of gonococci for the ciliated cells of human FTOC (18,19,36,41). Gonococcal peptidoglycan fragments also damage FTOC ciliary activity (42).…”

“…1 Infection of organ cultures has provided an experimental means of studying the interactions of gonococci and meningococci with intact mucosal surfaces (10,26,36,38,53,70). Human fallopian tube organ cultures (FTOC) are used because they are a site of natural infection (gonococcal salpingitis).…”

Tubal Damage, Infertility and Tubal Ectopic Pregnancy: Chlamydia trachomatis and Other Microbial Aetiologies

“…gonorrhoeae has been implicated in tubal infections. Both the bacteria themselves or components of the bacterial cell wall, lipopolysaccharide or peptidoglycan reportedly cause cessation of the ciliary activity (Mardh 1979) however, infection of the Fallopian tubes does not always result in ultrastructural damage to the mucosal surface (Woods & McGee 1986). Gonococci only invade the non-ciliated cells of the Fallopian tube mucosa, whereby the neighbouring ciliated cells become sloughy and detached (McGee 1981).…”

Host Species-Specific Damage to Oviduct Mucosa by Neisseria gonorrhoeae Lipopolysaccharide

“…This toxic activity results in damage to human but not porcine or bovine oviduct mucosa in organ culture (5). A majority ofthis toxic activity appears to be mediated by gonococcal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (12), and purified gonococcal LPS is capable of damaging human fallopian tubes in organ culture (3,8). The present studies were undertaken to determine whether the host specificity of damage to oviduct mucosa in organ culture, demonstrated with gonococcal infection and with gonococcal toxic factor(s), was also demonstrable with purified gonococcal LPS.…”