ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY OF THE GROWTH CYCLE OF GENITAL CHAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS IN THE HUMAN FALLOPIAN TUDES IN ORGAN-CULTURE

Abstract

The ability of genital Chlamydia trachomatis organisms to infect the human Fallopian tubes in organ culture was investigated by means of transmission and scanning electron microscopy.Fimbriae or ampullar portions of the Fallopian tubes, obtained from 6 women who had been undergone hysterosalpingotomy, were cut into 1-mm cubes immediately after the operations, and were infected with freshly prepared chlamydial stocks which contained more than 5×107 infective unities per ml. They were incubated for 5 days in an incubator at 37°C after an adsorption time allowed for 6 hours.At various time intervals after the inoculation, infected organ-cultures were taken and fixed immediately and prepared for transmission and scanning electron microscopy. In every infected organ cultures mature inclusions were observed in approximately 9 % of the ciliated and 6 % of the non-ciliated epithelial cells, but not in the connective tissue cells of the Fallopian tubes.The life cycle of the chlamydia organisms in the Fallopian cells was almost the same as those described with culture cell lines. It included three steps : initial conversion from the invaded elementary bodies (EB) to the vegetative reticulate bodies (RB) through an intermediate forms (IF), multiplication of the RB by binary fission and final maturation process producing the infective EB. The whole growth cycle was completed in 48 to 72 hours.A characteristic “ladder-like” structure was found in the growing RB at the binding site to the limiting membrane of the inclusion cavity, which is thought to have a beneficial role for their intracellular metabolism.