Interaction of leptospires with murine microglial cells

Leptospires, the agents of leptospirosis, exert tropism for the central nervous system, in the course of mammal infection. We evaluated the interaction between murine microglial cells and strains of pathogenic L. interrogans leptospires and non-pathogenic L. biflexa leptospires, mainly by flow cytometric assays. In the absence of opsonic conditions microglia are capable of ingesting - even quite slowly - the spirochetes and killing the non-pathogenic strain. The adhesion to microglia, which is quick and relevant for all the strains, does not involve the CR3 integrin receptor. These findings suggest that the murine microglia - in non opsonic conditions in vitro - do not effectively clear the pathogenic leptospires.