Reproducible pneumonia in gnotobiotic piglets induced with broth cultures of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and the effect of animal passage on virulence.

The virulence of a laboratory adapted culture of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae strain NB12 was determined in three- to five-day-old gnotobiotic piglets. Intranasal inoculation or exposure to an aerosol of the culture caused low incidences of pneumonia in the piglets. Passage of M hyopneumoniae strain NB12 in gnotobiotic piglets resulted in a rapid increase in virulence. After only three in vivo passages, severe pneumonia involving most lobes of the lung developed in all inoculated piglets within three and a half weeks. All 49 piglets inoculated with the piglet-passaged NB12 strain in nine subsequent experiments developed pneumonia but the extent of the pneumonic lesions varied considerably from piglet to piglet. The histopathology of the lung lesions was similar to that reported as being induced by other strains of M hyopneumoniae in gnotobiotic piglets and resembled that seen previously in conventionally reared neonatal piglets inoculated with homogenised lung from pigs with enzootic pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia caused by milk inhalation occurred in some piglets. The pneumonia induced with the piglet-passaged NB12 strain was judged to be suitable for the study of porcine enzootic pneumonia or for the evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents.