Alveolar macrophage response to experimentally induced ornithosis.
Effects of two strains of the agent of ornithosis upon alveolar macrophages of mice were compared. Macrophages were obtained by lavages of the lower respiratory tract. Experimental mice were intranasally infected with 100 LD50 of strain P 89 and strain Stanglová, respectively. Up to the culmination of the disease (from 6th to 8th day in P 89 and from 5th to 8th day in Stanglová), the number of harvested macrophages increased. The phagocytic index soon reached values around 40% (P 89) and 25% (Stanglová). Basophilic and eosinophilic macrophages increased in volume and their nuclear as well as plasma membranes became disrupted. A tendency of alveolar macrophages to fuse and form syncytial elements and sporadically, rosets, was observed. All cells in the lavage went through the same changes. Histological examination has shown initial changes in epithelial cells of bronchi and development of pneumonia after fusion of peribronchial leucocytic infiltrates. By employing the above described technique, no great changes in the quality of the effects of either strain P 89 or Stanglová were found. A slight difference was observed only in the degree of alveolar macrophage stimulation and in the onset of symptoms.
D000818:Animals; D001980:Bronchi / Q000473:pathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D010587:Phagocytosis; D009956:Psittacosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000473:pathology; D013045:Species Specificity; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000648:ultrastructure