T-mycoplasmas were isolated by a ‘colour-change’ technique, involving the metabolism of urea, from 16 of 49 slaughtered cows (33%). They were encountered more often in the urethra and bladder than in the vagina. Isolations were made usually within 2 days of incubation but occasionally 5 days was required. T-mycoplasmas were isolated in medium without inhibitors from urethral scrapings of a cow and from seminal fluid of a bull. On solid medium, bovine T-mycoplasmas produced colonies of 5-12μ which were similar to those produced by a T-mycoplasma from the human urogenital tract. In liquid medium, the growth cycle of bovine T-mycoplasmas was similar to that of human T-mycoplasmas, being more rapid than that of large colony-forming (classical) mycoplasmas. The presence of serum in the medium was necessary for growth. T-mycoplasmas of bovine origin were affected in a similar way to those of human origin when subjected to ether, heat, freezing and thawing, freeze-drying, antibiotics and thallium acetate; they were more sensitive to erythromycin and thallium acetate than some classical mycoplasmas. The size of the minimal reproductive forms of bovine and human T-mycoplasmas and a classical mycoplasma, Mycoplasma hyorhinis, was similar as judged by filtration experiments. Electron microscopy of bovine and human T-mycoplasmas revealed cells which varied in size from 80 mμ, to 420 mμ, and which were bounded by a triple-layered membrane, features similar to known classical mycoplasmas.
DEL GIUDICER. A.,
PAVIAR.1964; Hemadsorption by Mycoplasma pneumoniae and its inhibition with sera from patients with primary atypical pneumonia. Bact. Proc. 71:
PURCELLR. H.,
WONGD.,
CHANOCKR. M.,
TAYLOR-ROBINSOND.,
CANCHOLAJ.,
VALDESUSOJ.1967; Significance of antibody to Mycoplasma as measured by metabolic-inhibition techniques.. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 143:664
SHEPARDM. C.1954; The recovery of pleuropneumonia-like organisms from Negro men with and without nongonococcal urethritis. Am. J. Syph. Gonor. ven. Dis. 38:113
TAYLOR-ROBINSOND.,
PURCELLR. H.1966; Mycoplasmas of the human urogenital tract and oropharynx and their possible role in disease: a review with some recent observations. Proc. roy. Soc. Med. 59:1112