An Improved System for Studying the Effect of Bordetella bronchiseptica on the Ciliary Activity of Canine Tracheal Epithelial Cells

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Abstract
Ciliated epithelial cell outgrowths from canine tracheal explants were used to study the interaction between Bordetella bronchiseptica and canine respiratory cilia. A sensitive system for quantitating the ciliary beat frequencies of an individual cell was used to study the effects of B. bronchiseptica on ciliary function. Phase I and intermediatephase B. bronchiseptica isolates produced significant reductions (⩾50%) in ciliary beat frequencies within 5 min and nearly complete ciliostasis within 3 hr. A rough-phase isolate of B. bronchiseptica and heat- and formalin-killed preparations of the phase I isolate had no ciliostatic effect. Phase I and intermediate-phase isolates attached to cilia, whereas the rough-phase isolate did not. The ciliostatic effects of the phase I isolate could not be reproduced with endotoxin or culture supernatants from the organism. Thus, attachment alone does not produce ciliostasis; ciliostatic effects of Bordetella may require the close association between metabolically active organisms and cilia.