TITLE:
Clarithromycin Attenuates the Bronchial Epithelial Damage Induced by Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection
AUTHORS:
Hiroshi Tanaka, Hisato Sadakata, Tae Nagami, Shun Miyazaki, Tsutomu Tomita, Shuhei Shirata, Takehiro Yamagishi
KEYWORDS:
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Epithelial Cell Damage, Clarithromycin, Murine Model
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.4 No.11,
September
4,
2014
ABSTRACT: To analyze the bronchial epithelial cell
damage induced by Mycoplasma pneumonia and
the therapeutic effects of clarithromycin, we observed bronchial tissue damage by
using a mouse model and performing immunostaining and scanning electron microscopy.
The immunostaining study showed that M.
pneumoniae-labeled fluorescence was found on the mucosal epithelium of mice,
6 days after inoculation. Clarithromycin treatment reduced the fluorescence. In
this study, we demonstrated that the morphological alterations of bronchial
mucosa, including the shortening and loss of ciliavisualized by scanning electron
microscopy, and the inflammatory cell migration in the submucosal tissue
visualized by differential interference contrast microscopy, were induced by mycoplasmal
infection. We also showed that clarithromycin treatment, when administered from
the first day of inoculation, attenuated both the bronchial epithelial damage and
inflammatory cell migration in the submucosal tissue. These results suggest
that the therapeutic effects of clarithromycin against mycoplasmal infection,
may be due to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities.