Fine structure of Haemobartonella muris as compared with Eperythrozoon coccoides and Mycoplasma pulmonis

Tanaka, H. (The Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y.), W. T. Hall, J. B. Sheffield, and D. H. Moore. Fine structure of Haemobartonella muris as compared with Eperythrozoon coccoides and Mycoplasma pulmonis. J. Bacteriol. 90:1735-1749. 1965.-Thin sections of filterable hemolytic anemia agent of rat, now identified as Haemobartonella muris, revealed (i) that the agent is spherical or ellipsoidal and 350 to 700 mmu in size, (ii) that it has a single limiting membrane enclosing granules and some filaments (neither cell wall nor nucleoid was found), and (iii) that it is found preferentially at the surface and sometimes within the cytoplasmic vacuoles of erythrocytes in the circulating blood and bone marrow, and multiplies there through binary fission. No specific structure suggestive of motility was found. From the morphological point of view, Eperythrozoon coccoides was found to be very similar to H. muris, whereas Mycoplasma pulmonis, also covered with a single limiting membrane, differs in its pleomorphism and multiplication. These and some other microorganisms taxonomically between bacteria and viruses were compared morphologically, and their possible classification is discussed.

Identity of the filterable hemolytic anemia agent of Sacks with Haemobartonella muris

Moore, D. H. (The Rockefeller University, New York, N. Y.), R. N. Arison, H. Tanaka, W. T. Hall, and M. Chanowitz. Identity of the filterable hemolytic anemia agent of Sacks with Haemobartonella muris. J. Bacteriol. 90:1669-1674. 1965.-In 1960 a new hemolytic agent in rats was reported. It was thought to be a filterable, nonsedimentable, replicating infectious agent, different from Haemobartonella muris. Rats which recovered from the infection developed a resistance to several kinds of transplantable tumors. It is here shown that this agent has the same properties as those reported in the literature and reconfirmed by us for H. muris. The size of the agent is approximately 500 mmu as determined by correlating bioactivity with Gradocol membrane filtrates and fractions from a diffusion cell, and its density is about midway between that of whole serum and distilled water (approximately 1.020) as determined by the sedimentation of bioactivity in an ultracentrifuge. Diffusion at 30 C indicated a lack of motility by the agent bodies. Rats were found to be protected against infection with the agent by daily administration of chlortetracycline and by prior infection with H. muris. The agent bodies were indistinguishable from H. muris in both the light and the electron microscope.

Positive antinuclear antibody in atopic dermatitis

Serum samples from atopic dermatitis (AD) patients were examined with two antinuclear antibody-detecting methods, using HEp-2 cells as substrate. 34.0% of 47 AD patients tested with FITC-conjugated polyvalent immunoglobulins (method 1) had positive antinuclear antibody (ANA). 26.3% of 57 AD patients examined with FITC-conjugated anti-IgG (method 2) had positive ANA. We found that AD patients who had facial lesions tended to have positive ANA, whereas severe AD patients tended to have high titres of ANA.