Multinucleation induction by different chlamydial species.

<p>[A] HeLa cells infected with <i>Chlamydia trachomatis</i> (L2), <i>C. muridarum</i> (MoPn) or <i>C. caviae</i> (GPIC) for 40 hours. Cells were stained with anti-β-tubulin (green), human serum (red), and Draq5 (blue) (representative cells shown, asterisks denote the nuclei and arrows indicate chlamydial inclusions). [B] Multinucleation induction for all three species was statistically higher than uninfected. Each species also induced a significantly different level of multinucleation from each other, p<0.01, N = 3 experiments with at least 600 cells per experiment. [C] The mitotic index was reduced in cell infected with all three chlamydial species. There was a statistically significant difference between the uninfected and GPIC-, MoPn- and L2- infected cells, (T-test p<0.01), N = 3 experiments, >1500 cells per experiment but no significant difference between species. [D] Centrosome amplification after infection with all three species was significant when compared to uninfected but not significant when compared between species (T-test p<0.01), N = 3 experiments, >150 cells per experiment. [E] The rates of induction of abnormal spindles was higher after infection with all three chlamydial species. Induction of spindle abnormalities also differed significantly between species. (T-test p<0.01) N = 3, >100 cells per experiment. Bar on images = 5 nm.