A tracheal culture model of respiratory tract infection withPseudomonas Aeruginosa

Summary The pathogenesis ofPseudomonas aeruginosa for the respiratory tract has been examined using hamster tracheal organ cultures. Tracheal rings prepared from male Syrian hamsters, strain LSH/LAK, were infected withP. aeruginosa for 4 h and processed at 4-h intervals for 24 h for examination by light- and electron microscopy. Tissue destruction was observed within 8 h after infection with 10⁸ colony-forming units (cfu)/ml and within 12 h after infection with 10⁴ or 10⁶ cfu/ml. Ciliated cells that contained abnormal subcellular organelles were expelled from the epithelium. By 20 h the epithelial borders were composed primarily of nonciliated cells. Transmission- and scanning electron microscopy revealed details of the cellular destruction and attachment ofP. aeruginosa to the ciliated epithelium.Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes a rapid destruction of the epithelium of hamster trachea in cultures. Hamster tracheal organ cultures have been shown to be useful in studying the pathogenesis ofP. aeruginosa for the respiratory tract. This work was supported by Grants G-430B and G-431B from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.