On ultrastructure and motility of spirochetes
Blaha, T.; Günther, H.
Acta Veterinaria Hungarica 33(1-2): 3-12
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0236-6290 PMID: 2940826 Document Number: 243240
Electron microscopical investigations of the agent of swine dysentery (Treponema hyodysenteriae; Harris et al., 1972) isolated from faeces of healthy pigs as well as from the colon of pigs with swine dysentery are described. Similar investigations were carried out on T. innocens (Kinyon and Harris, 1979), on a spirochete isolated from the caecum of rats and, finally, on T. reiteri. The ultrastructure of the above microbes is different from that described for T. hyodysenteriae and T. innocens, and for spirochetes generally. Based on the results, the motility of spirochetes of the genera Treponema and Borrelia is explained. The arrangement of axial fibrils and, consequently, the type of movement are useful for a clear and sufficient distinction between the genera Treponema and Borrelia, and T. hyodysenteriae has to get a new combination to Borrelia hyodysenteriae. The T. innocens strain Puppy and the spirochete from the caecum of the rat are also regarded as belonging to the genus Borrelia.