Adherence of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae to porcine tracheal epithelial cells and frozen lung sections.

The ability of 23 different Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae isolates to adhere in vitro to porcine tracheal epithelial cells and to porcine frozen lung sections was examined. It was found that A. pleuropneumoniae adhered poorly to isolated tracheal epithelial cells. On the other hand, A. pleuropneumoniae adhered to frozen lung sections and marked variations were observed between and within serotypes. Adherence to lung sections did not seem related to the hemagglutinating activity of the isolate. Two noncapsulated variants adhered to lung sections in greater numbers than their capsulated parent strains. Adherence to lung sections was not inhibited by the extracellular matrix components tested namely, laminin, fibronectin, and collagen, but was inhibited by homologous serotype-specific antiserum. The data indicated that the A. pleuropneumoniae isolates tested possess the ability to adhere to porcine lung tissue, a property which did not seem to be related to the serotype and did not seem to involve the capsular material or the hemagglutinins of the isolates.