Interaction betweenMycobacterium tuberculosis,Mycobacterium bovis,Mycobacterium aviumsubspeciesparatuberculosiswith the enteric glia and microglial cells

BackgroundWe investigated the interaction ofMycobacterium aviumsubspeciesparatuberculosis,M. bovisandM. tuberculosisand different glial cells (enteric glial and microglial cells) in order to evaluate the infecting ability of these microorganisms and the effects produced on these cells, such as the evaluation of cytokines expression.ResultsOur experiments demonstrated the adhesion ofM. paratuberculosisto the enteroglial cells and the induction of IL-1A and IL-6 expression;M. tuberculosisandM. bovisshowed a good adhesive capability to the enteric cell line with the expression of the following cytokines: IL-1A and IL-1B, TNF-α, G-CSF and GM-CSF;M. bovisinduced the expression of IL-6 too.The experiment performed with the microglial cells confirmed the results obtained with the enteroglial cells after the infection withM. tuberculosisandM. bovis, whereasM. paratuberculosisstimulated the production of IL-1A and IL-1B.ConclusionEnteroglial and microglial cells, could be the target of pathogenic mycobacteria and, even if present in different locations (Enteric Nervous System and Central Nervous System), show to have similar mechanism of immunomodulation.