Response of C3H/HeJ and C3H/HeN mice and their peritoneal macrophages to the toxicity of Chlamydia psittaci elementary bodies.

Intravenous injection of toxic doses of Chlamydia psittaci elementary bodies into endotoxin-responsive C3H/HeN mice or endotoxin-nonresponsive C3H/HeJ mice resulted in essentially identical time intervals to death. Inoculation of monolayer cultures of thioglycolate-stimulated peritoneal macrophages from the two strains of mice with 250 elementary bodies per macrophage resulted in immediate host cell toxicity, although the C3H/HeJ macrophages were somewhat less sensitive to elementary body toxicity than were the C3H/HeN macrophages.