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Original Article

^a Department of Microbiology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
^b Department of Anatomy, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
^c Department of Pathology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Dept. of Microbiology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.46-90-772-63046-90-785-6726

sven.bergstrom{at}micro.umu.se

The agent of African relapsing fever, Borrelia crocidurae, causes reversible multiple organ damage. We hypothesize that this damage is caused when the spirochete forms aggregate with erythrocytes in vivo, creating rosettes that plug the microcirculatory system. To test this hypothesis, we compared testicular microcirculation over an extended time period in two groups of rats: one experimentally inoculated with B. crocidurae, the other with the nonerythrocyte rosette–forming Borrelia hermsii. In the B. crocidurae group, erythrocyte rosettes formed during spiro-chetemia blocked precapillary blood vessels and reduced the normal pattern of microcirculatory blood flow. After spirochetemia, erythrocyte rosettes disappeared and flow was normalized. Decreased blood flow and focal vascular damage with increased permeability and interstitial bleeding adjacent to the erythrocyte microemboli induced cell death in seminiferous tubules. Interestingly, we found that B. crocidurae could penetrate the tubules and remain in the testis long after the end of spirochetemia, suggesting that the testis can serve as a reservoir for this bacteria in subsequent relapses. The group infected with B. hermsii displayed normal testicular blood flow and vasomotion at all selected time points, and suffered no testicular damage. These results confirmed our hypothesis that the erythrocyte rosettes produce vascular obstruction and are the main cause of histopathology seen in model animal and human infections.

Key Words: erythrocyte rosettes • laser Doppler flowmetry • testis • in vivo microscopy • hemorrhage

The online version of this article contains supplemental material.

A. Shamaei-Tousi's present address is Karolinska Institutet, Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.

© 2001 The Rockefeller University Press

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Guo, B. P., Teneberg, S., Munch, R., Terunuma, D., Hatano, K., Matsuoka, K., Angstrom, J., Boren, T., Bergstrom, S. (2009). Relapsing fever Borrelia binds to neolacto glycans and mediates rosetting of human erythrocytes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 19280-19285 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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