Oxygen consumption by trachea organ cultures infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Hamster trachea organ cultres were shown to consume measurable amounts of oxygen when incubated in a closed micro-chamber. Several simple and complex media were evaluated, and the optimal system involved incubating 2 to 4 mg of tracheal tissue in Tyrodes balanced salt solution at 37 C for 60 min, with oxygen activity measured with a Clark electrode. Tracheas infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae showed a significantly lower oxygen utilitzation than did uninfected controls. The effect was dose dependent when levels of 105 to 107 colony-forming units per ml were used to infect the tracheal rings. Virulent mycoplasmas caused significant decreases in relative ciliary activity and oxygen utilization, whereas attenuated mycoplasmas reduced ciliary activity and oxygen utilization levels to a lesser extent.