An improved system for studying the effect of Bordetella bronchiseptica on the ciliary activity of canine tracheal epithelial cells.

Ciliated epithelial cell outgrowths from canine tracheal explants were used to study the interaction between Bordetella bronchiseptica and canine respiratory cilia. A sensitive system for quantitating the ciliary beat frequencies of an individual cell was used to study the effects of B. bronchiseptica on ciliary function. Phase I and intermediate-phase B. bronchiseptica isolates produced significant reductions (greater than or equal to 50%) in ciliary beat frequencies within 5 min and nearly complete ciliostasis within 3 hr. A rough-phase isolate of B. bronchiseptica and heat- and formalin-killed preparations of the phase I isolate had no ciliostatic effect. Phase I and intermediate-phase isolates attached to cilia, whereas the rough-phase isolate did not. The ciliostatic effects of the phase I isolate could not be reproduced with endotoxin or culture supernatants from the organism. Thus, attachment alone does not produce ciliostasis; ciliostatic effects of Bordetella may require the close association between metabolically active organisms and cilia.