Pathogenesis of single and mixed infections caused by Mycoplasma meleagridis and Mycoplasma gallisepticum in turkey embryos
Reis, R.; Yamamoto, R.
American Journal of Veterinary Research 32(1): 63-74
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9645 PMID: 5541210 Document Number: 39351
Sequential sampling of infected embryos showed that both organisms were extracellularly attached to membrane of the yolk sac and in the tracheal lumen, small bronchi and alveoli and surface of the air sacs and were in the contents and along the yilli of the lower intestine and in the bursa of Fabricius. The localization of M. meleagridis in the lower intestine and bursa of Fabricius of the developing embryo indicated that genital infections of mature turkeys could originate early in life. The importance of genital infection in perpetuating M. meleagridis infections is well known. The distribution of M. gallisepticum in the embryo indicated that genital infection also was possible, but what such localization means in the mature turkey has not been defined. In the direct F.A. test, a staining reagent consisting of a mixture of fluorescent-labelled M. meleagridis serum and rhodamine-labelled M. gallisepticum serum was used for detecting homologous organisms in infected tisues or in colony imprints. Rhodamine-labelled M. gallisepticum serum, however, was much more efficient than fluorescein-labelled M. meleagridis serum in detecting the homologous organisms in infected tissues. The greater efficiency of the rhodamine conjugate was due to its low avidity for embryonic tissues and to presence of greater numbers of M. gallisepticum in infected tissues.