Infectivity of Borrelia burgdorferi Correlates with Resistance to Elimination by Phagocytic Cells

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Abstract
The Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes a disseminated infection in vivo, implying resistance to clearance by phagocytic cells. Because B. burgdorferi loses its infectivity after in vitro cultivation, the relationships betweenserial passaging of the organism in vitro, its susceptibility to elimination by phagocytes, and its infectivity were examined. When three differenthigh-passagestrains wereincubated for4 h at 37°C with peripheral bloodmononuclear cells,macrophages, or polymorphonuclearneutrophils, 45%–67% of the organismswereeliminated. In contrast, twolow-passage strains wereresistant to elimination byphagocytes, and only 5%–6% of the organismswereremoved after 4 h. All five strains equally stimulated the neutrophil oxidative burst, indicating that evasionof phagocytes wasnot a result of avoidance of recognition by these cells.The two low-passage strains wereinfective when injectedinto mice,whereas the three high-passage ones werenot. These observations indicate that infectivity of the Lyme disease spirochete correlates with resistance to elimination by phagocytic cells.

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