Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Morphologie und Vermehrung der beim Menschen vorkommenden Mycoplasmen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung vonMycoplasma hominis

Design of a microculture chamber to observe cell division of bacterial L-forms in liquid medium

A culture chamber is described that permits phase-contrast microscopic observations of the growth of stable L-form cells of Bacillus subtilis 168 in liquid medium.

Mycoplasma hominis: growth, reproduction, and isolation of small viable cells

Improved methods for studying the growth of Mycoplasma hominis (ATCC 14027) have been developed, involving modified growth conditions and preparation of the organisms under minimally distorting conditions. Cells so prepared from batch cultures show relatively uniform exponential growth and appear to be dividing by binary fission; but pleomorphic forms appear upon further incubation. Similar behavior was demonstrated by another laboratory-adapted strain and by three clinical isolates, and therefore seems characteristic of the species. The pleomorphic populations contain small forms having diameters within the 100- to 250-nm size range reported for "elementary bodies." Such forms were isolated from this strain of M. hominis by sequential filtration using gravity alone, after cell aggregates were dispersed by Pronase treatment. Of the small bodies which traversed membranes of 220-nm pore size, a negligible number grew in liquid or on solid media, suggesting that these were not essential reproductive units in a life cycle, but involution forms due to growth in an altered environment.

Microcinematographic studies of Mycoplasma hominis cells

Cells of two strains of Mycoplasma hominis growing in liquid medium on a glass surface were observed continuously, and cinematographic pictures were taken. Most of the observed structures showed reversible changes of their shape, suggesting the presence of contractile material in membrane or cytoplasma. The frequency and speed of such variations were measured. The deformations seem to be related to multiplication. The mechanisms of these phenomena are unknown.

Celular morphology of newly isolated Mycoplasma hominis strains

Cells of Mycoplasma hominis growing in laboratory media for the first time were observed by phase contrast and identified by their reaction to homologous antiserum.