Paracellular Pathway-Mediated Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae Migration across Porcine Airway Epithelial Barrier under Air-Liquid Interface Conditions [Cellular Microbiology: Pathogen-Host Cell Molecular Interactions]

In this study, we established air-liquid interface culture systems for pig bronchial epithelial cells (ALI-PBECs) that were comparable to the conditions in the native bronchus in vivo. We used this ALI-PBECs model to study the infection and migration characteristics of M. hyopneumoniae in vitro. Based on the results, we confirmed that M. hyopneumoniae was able to adhere to ALI-PBECs and disrupt mucociliary function. Importantly, M. hyopneumoniae could migrate to the basolateral chamber through the paracellular route but not the transcellular pathway, and this was achieved by reversibly disrupting tight junctions (TJs) and increasing the permeability and damaging the integrity of the epithelial barrier. We examined the migration ability of M. hyopneumoniae using an ALI-PBECs model for the first time. The disruption of the epithelial barrier allowed M. hyopneumoniae to migrate to the basolateral chamber through the paracellular route, which may be related to immune evasion, extrapulmonary dissemination, and persistent infection of M. hyopneumoniae.

Source: Infection and Immunity - September 17, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Xie, X., Liu, B., Wei, Y., Gan, Y., Yuan, T., Ni, B., Wang, J., Zhang, L., Xiong, Q., Shao, G., Feng, Z. Tags: Cellular Microbiology: Pathogen-Host Cell Molecular Interactions Source Type: research