Cultivo de Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochaetales: Spirochaetaceae) em células embrionárias de Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae).

Abstract

Cell cultures provide a simplified system of observation that can be particularly useful for studies of intracellular and epicellular microorganisms. The aim of this study was to establish in vitro embryonic cells primary culture of the tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus to cultivate the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi american strain G39/40. The culture was established from embryonated eggs of engorged females of R. sanguineus to 12 days after the beginning of the oviposition, using the culture medium Leibovitz's L-15B supplemented with 20% of inactivated fetal calf serum, 10% of tryptose phosphate broth, 0.1% fraction V bovine albumin, 1% of glutamine and 0.1% of gentamicin antibiotic, pH 6.8. After the formation of a monolayer, the initial culture medium L-15B was removed from the tubes and replaced by Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly medium (BSK) or BSK with L-15B without antibiotics. Spirochetes previously grown in BSK were counted and inoculated into tubes, with final concentration of approximately 6.2 x 105 spirochetes/mL. B. burgdorferi from the inoculated tubes were countered when the means showed yellow color, indicative of high acidity due to the multiplication of spirochetes. On the third day after the start of primary culture of R. sanguineus embryonic cells, we observed the fixation of cell aggregates on the surface of the bottles. From these clusters, there were several cell types, such as large fibroblast-type cells and structures like vesicles and tubes. In the second week, we observed the appearance of round or flattened epithelial-type cells, and after 21 days of culture, we realized the formation of a monolayer due to the appearance of confluent cells. The L-15B medium proved to be efficient for the development of primary culture of R. sanguineus embryonic cells. There was a great multiplication of spirochetes cultivated with cultured embryonic cells when compared to the initial concentration, as well as the spirochetes grown in the absence of the tick cells, observing an increase of 100 times the number of B. burgdorferi. Seven days after inoculation, the tubes in which we used only the BSK medium, higher concentrations of B. burgdorferi were recovered when compared to the tubes where the medium BSK and Leibovitz's L-15B were used. Regardless of the culture media tested, the final concentration of B. burgdorferi of the tubes with embryonic tick cells was lower than that of seamless embryonic cells. In observation of the culture tubes on microscopy phase contrast, spirochetes were presented adhered to epithelial-type and fibroblast-type tick cells in an epicelular way and with great motility. R. sanguineus embryonic cells grown in BSK medium, with or without B. burgdorferi inoculation, stopped its propagation, showed membrane degeneration and many of them broke away from the surface of the bottle. The cells grown in BSK and L- 15B continued to multiply, many were still intact and attached to the bottle, with the presence of tissues in development, with fewer degenerated and floating cells than those cultivated in BSK. The spirochete B. burgdorferi strain G39/40, adhered, grew, multiplied and showed great motility in cultures of embryonic cells of R. sanguineus tick, using BSK and Leibovitz´s L-15B media.