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DIAGNOSTIC TISSUE

MICROBIOLOGY METHODS
Nelson S. Brewer, M.D.,* aml Lyle A. Weed, M.D.~

Abstract

Tissue specimens, when processed properly, nmy yield important microbi-


ologic information. Various techniques have evolved lor specimen collection and
transport, processing of tissue specimens, and demonstration of organisms b)'
staining histologic material that enhance tim identification of infectious agents.
Carefifl attention to these details may yield diagnostic information that might
otherwise be missed.

One important flmction of tim diag- other diagnostic procedures, information


nostic microbiology laboratory is the micro- that frequently gives clues as to the nature
biologic study of tissues. A number of tech- and extent of organ involvement. Other
niques have evolved that enhance the helpfltl information needed includes occu-
demonstration of organisms b)' Ifistologic pational and travel histories, exposure to
staining and by recovery in cultures. With animals or animal products, and disease in
attention to details of specimen collection close associates or family members.
and transport, special s.taining procedures, l'articular note slmuld be made of any
prepm'ation of tissue for culturing, and serologic studies or skin test results. Assess-
inoculation of the processed specimen onto merit of the patient's immune status re-
the appropriate media, it is possible to ob- garding both humoral and delayed hyper-
tain valuable diagnostic information that sensitMty is important. For example,
might otherwise be missed. These tech- C~3'ptococcus neoJormans and Nocardia infec-
niques are especially important in the eval- tions are more likely to occur in patients
uation of chronic lesions in whicli only a with Hodgkin's disease or sarcoidosis, two
few viable organisms may r e m a i n . diseases in which there is delayed hyper-
A rt~view o f the patient's clinic record sensitMty nmlfimction. Pneumococcal in-
reveals important information regarding fections are not unconllllOn anlong patients
the type and duration of symptoms, physi- with myeloma, cirrhosis, or sickle cell dis-
cal findings, laboratory data, and resuhs of ease. Children with chronic granulomatous

*Insnuctor in Internal Medicine, Ma)o Medical School. Consultant, Division of Intectious Dis-
eases, and Section of Clinical Microbiology,MayoCliificand Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Min-
nesota.
tEmerinls Professor of Microbiology, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine (Universityof Min-
nesota). EmeritusConsultant,Section of ClinicalMicrobiology,MayoClinicand MayoFoundation,
Rochester, ~linnesota.

141
HUMAN I'ATHOLOGY-VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2 March 1976

disease have no difliculty witll pneunlococci several sites should be obtained to enhance
but are susceptible to staphylococci and recovery of tile etiologic agent.
gram negative organisms. Besides inllu- Closed lesions may be aspirated with a
encing the etiologic agent involved, the syringe using a large needle to permit re-
patient's underlying disease may determine covery of larger chnnps of organisms and
the nature of the inflammatory lesion. Ne- necrotic debris3 Local anesthesia may be
crotizing nonsuppurative lesions may be necessary with very l)ainfld lesions; how-
found in gram negative infections iil pa- ever, one shoukl be judicious in using these
tients with m,dignant hematologic disease, agents because the antibacterial activity of
whereas similar organisms in patients with- procaine ires been demonstrated. 4 Use of
out malignant hematologic disease would general anesthesia in the operating room
produce I)olynmrpllonuclear exudation may be required in some cases. Sterile mi-
and abscess formation. ~ croscopic slides may be smeared with the
T h e demonstration of micro-organ- purulent material at the time of collection
isms in draining wounds and tissue speci- for Gram, acid fast, or 1)otassium hydroxide
mens gives important clues to the etiologic preparations.
agent and may enable therap)'to be planned Biopsy specimens may be placed into a
and started on a rational basis. However, sterile, wide mouthed bottle. If biopsy of a
the morphologic appearance can be mis- large lesion is contemplated, it is important
leading, and recovery of the organism by to obtain specimens from several parts of
cultural techniques provides tile most the lesion to ensure adequate sampling.
accurate method for identification of the Also, if there are muhil)le lesions, several
infectious agent. specimens should be obtained fi'om dif-
ferent sites. Sterile, wide mouthed bottles
should be available in tile operating room
SPECIMEN COLLECTION so that the surgeon can place the material
AND TRANSPORT for culture into them directl}', tints mini-
mizing the possibility of contamination of
Draining sinuses should be curetted the specimen in the pathology laborator)'
with a sterile curene to recover organisms or inadvertent fixation. If an abscess is
tlmt might be found only in the sinus wall surgically removed, a generous portion of
or in the site of origin, such as suppurative tile abscess wall should be sent lot micro-
lymph nodes or a lesion of osteomyelitis. biologic study; some organisms, like No-
Collection of purulent material fi'om the cardia astemMes, are usually found in the
sinus cavity with a swab is not adequate. abscess wall, whereas others, such as Ac-
Often only secondary invaders are recov- timmoces israelii, are more likely to be in
ered by this technique, and not infre- purulent drainages. The surgeon can bisect
quently the swab has dried by the time it a lesion, sending half for histopathologic
reaches the laboratory. The curettings may study and placing the remainder of tile
be placed into a sterile bottle with 2 to 3 nil. specimen into the sterile container for
of nutrient broth for transport to the lab- microbiok)gic stud)'.
oratory. A specimen collection kit, such as Sometimes, when one lympli node is
~he one described by Start and Weed3 sent to the histology labor,ttory~and an ad-
makes tile procedur e more convenient. jacent node is sent for microbiologic study,
For anaerobic cultures, samples of pu- the histologist identifies organisms in the
l'ulent drainage should be aspirated with a stained sections but no organisms are ctd-
syringe and injected into an anaerobe trans- tured from the other node. Because the
port vial containing l)rercduced medium, a distribution of organisms in a lymph node
When feasible, biopsy of an ulcer wall or cimin may not be uniform, study of muhi-
surgical removal of a sinus tract provides a pie nodes by both histologic stains and cul-
more representative specimen for histo- ture provides tile best opportunity for
logic as well as microbiologic study. (;ran- identifying the etiologic agent.
ular elements resembling sulfnr granules Abdominal exploration in cases of
in purulent drainage should be noted fever of unknown origin is a sEecial in-
especiall }' and collected. If multiple fistulas stance ~:equiring communication "among
Ol- sinus tracts are i)resent, sl)ecimens from the nficrobiologist, the internist, and the
142
DIAGNOSTIC TISSUE MICROBIOLOGY METHODS--BREwER, WEEo

surgeon. When collecting surgical speci- Tissue specimens are minced with ster-
inens, one must keep in mind that addi- ile scissors into a sterile mortar and then
tional material will not be available once ground with a sterile pestle and a sterile
the chest or abdomen is closed. Therefore, abrasive (Alundum). Sufficient nutrient
as much material as is reasonable should be broth is added to produce a 10 to 20 per
collected for study at the time of the proce- cent suspension. T h e material is then
dure. If a wedge liver biopsy is desired, the placed into ix sterile dropper bottle and
surgeon should be so informed. If multi- inoculated onto tile appropriate media.
pie, enlarged lymph nodes are found, lilts Then the tissue suspension is stored in a
of several of them should be submitted for refi'igerator at ,t~ C. for four weeks.
microbiologic study. If an enlarged spleen In our laboratory, if no diagnosis is
is removed, all the tissue not needed for made with gralmlomatous lesions witlfin
pathologic examilmtion should be sent for two weeks after the time of accession, on
microbiologic study. If only a few granulo- the basis of either special histologic stains
111atotls lesions or abscesses a r e present, or preliminary culture results, the tissue
these areas can be studied microbiological- suspension is recultured for mycobacteria,
ly, increasing the likelihood of recovering general bacteria, and fungal organisms
the infecting agent. and the surgical specimen is retrieved ibr
At our institutiolL frozen sections are additioiml microbiologic study. On several
prepared from ahnost all surgical speci- occasions fimgi that were demonstrable in
luens. Granulontatous lesions, both caseous tissue sections but did not grow in the initial
and noncaseous, are cuhured for mycobac- ctllture attempt were finally grown after re-
teria, flmgi, Brucella, and general bacteria. culture. Also Listeria monocvtogenes some-
Other specimens are placed on appropriate times can be recovered only after storage at
media t"o1"culture according to the request 4 ~ C. according to procedures previously
of the patient's physician. described. 6
Tral~sport of tissue specimens to the
laboratory in sterile glass containers is prob-
ably satisfactory tor recovei'y of anaerobic D E M O N S T R A T I O N OF
organisms; however, this subject deserves ORGANISMS BY STAINING
further study.
Weed and Baggenstoss 5 have shown Tile use of special stains for histologic
that reliable Imctcriologic information can specimens can be a valuable adjunct to cul-
be obtained fiom embahned tissues in turing in demonstrating infectious agents.
many instances. They isolated such organ- Also these stains may help define tile role
isms as Escherichia coil, Kh'bsiella pneumoniae, of some cultured organisms as primary
various species of streptococci, F'semlomonas pathogen, secondary invader, or contami-
aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Haemophilus in- nant. For example, biopsy specimens of
fluenzae, Nocardia asteroides, tlistophmmt cap- necrotic lesions not infrequently grow
sulalum, and M)'cobacterimn tuberculosis from Staphylococcus aureus when cuhured, and
tissue obtained three to 60 hours after the tiffs organism is capable of causing tissue
bodies hild bcen embalmed, collecting their necrosis. However, it also may proliferate
study niateri,d with sterile scissors after in tissue that is necrotic for some other
sterilizing the tissue surface by quick-heat- reason. The presence of these gram posi-
ing gynecologic cautery. tive cocci in necrotic tissue without an in-
flammatory reaction indicates the need to
look furtl~er for the cause of the tissue ne-
P R O C E S S I N G OF crosis.
TISSUE SPECIMENS We. have found that in most cases a
Gram stain, an acid fast stain, and a Gomori
Tissue specimens shovld be proccssed methenamine silver stain suffice for screen-
as soon as possible upon their arrival in the ing of tissue sections fi)r micro-organisms.
microbiology laboratory. Therefore, at our Fungai organisms are readily demonstrable
institution these specimens are bandied on by the Gomori methenamine silver tech-
an emergenqy basis a f t e r regular laboratory nique, and for screening purposes this
hours. stain is prefelved over Other stains such as
143
IlUMAN PATHOLOGY--VOLUME 7, NUMI?,ER 2 March 1976

tire periodic acid-Schiffand Gridley fungus of the 45 positive Mycobacterimn tuberculosis


stains; 7 however, the latter stains occasion- tissue cultures during this same two year
all}" may be hellfful. Protozoa such as Leish- period, smears for acid fast organisms were
mania donovani or Toxoplasma gomlii do not negative in 24 (53 per cent). ~2 Previous
stain by the periodic acid-Schiff, Gridley, authors Imve shown that nontuberculosis
or Gomori methenamine silver technique, s mycobacterial infections may account for
and this negative reaction helps to differ- histopathologic findings that are indis-
entiate these organisms fi'om fungi. Pneu- tinguishable from those of the infectious
moc)'stis carinii, whose taxononty is uncer- lesions of Al~'cobacterium tuberculosi.O3, 14
tain, is readily demonstrable with the A Gram stain technique, such as the
Gomori methenamine silver stain. Tiffs one recently described l)y Brown and
stain imparts the same black-brown colora- Hopps, ~5 should be adequate for the dem-
tion to the filantents of Nocardia astemides onstration of most gram positive and
and Actinomyces israelii. Mycobacteria may gram negative bacteria in histologic sec-
be stained by the Gomori metllenanaine tions. Members of the order Actinomyce-
silver stain if the time in silver is increased, s tales, which includes the mycobacteria,
.Acid fast organisms can be demon- Nocardia, and Actinomyces, demonstrate
strated by a variet)" of staining techniques. their kinship in sharing the property of
Weed et al? fi)und the night blue stain to being acid fast. The nature of the de-
be better than the ZiehI-Neelsen method colorizing solution is important and de-
for screening of tissue sections. Fluorescent termines whether Nocardia or Actinomyces
staining teclmiques for delnonstrating retains the carbolfuchsin stain. 16 Unless a
acid fast organisms have been available fi~r weak organic acid is used for decolorization,
many years. ~~ ~ The lluorescent technique Actinono'ces usually does not show up as
allows rapid scaiming of tissue suspensions acid fast. Cultural differentiation between
and histologic sections. the gram positive filamentous Nocardia and
For examination of broth suspensions Actinomyces israelii is not difficult, however.
of tissue, the auranfine-rhodantine stain is Nocardia is aerobic and grows on most
used. T h e sntears are then scanned under laboratory inedia, whereas Actinomyces is
the • objective. For tissue suspensions, anaerobic and fastidious.
urine, sputum, and exudates, this method Nocardia asteroides is fi'equently iso-
is reliable and much faster than the Ziehl- lated from sputuna specimens cultured for
Neelsen or night blue technique in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Specimens to be
scanning witlt a • objective or oil im- cultured for mycobacteria are treated with
mersiou is required. TM only a 2 per cent sodium hydroxide solu-
It is unustml to find acid fast orgauisms tion prior to culture, rather than a higher
in histologic sections stained with night concentration as used in some other lab-
blue or carbolfuchsin tlmt were not demon- oratories, which probably accounts for the
strated by fluorocllrome dye staining of fi'equent recover)' of Nocardia on mycobac-
the ground tissue suspension. One should terial cultures in our laboratory. Actino-
keep in mind tlmt demonstration of an acid myces often appears in purulent drainage
f~st organism is no ntore diagnostic of tu- as small granules resembling elemental
b~erculosis than demonstration of a gram st, lfur (Figs. 1,2). However, chronic drain-
negative organism is diagnostic of Pseudo- ing sinuses due to Staphylococcus or Pseudo-
moats aerugim~sa. It may be highly sugges- monas may occasionally discharge clumps
tive, however, if the stained organisnts fit of organisms and necrotic debris (botryo-
with the clinical and histologic pictures, ht mycosis). Gram stains of these ntacroscopic
the Mayo Clinic laboratory, for the two cluntps ntay depict gram positive filanten-
}'ear period Noventber 1972 througll Oc- tous organisms characteristic of Actinomyces
tober 197,t, both smears and cultures of or other organisms such as gram positive
tissue specimens were positive for myco- cocci, gram negative bacilli, or fimgi.
bacteria in 27 instances; 21 of the 27 myco- A scheme for tissue identification of
bactel:ia were Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A fungi similar to the one proposed by An-
negative auranfine-rhodamine sntear of thony tr is helpfifl. Detailed descriptions of
the ti,ssue concentrate certainly does not fimgi and their appearance in Ifis.tologic
rule ou( mycobacterial infection, htdeed, sectiolrs are available, s We find it helpfid to
144
DIAGNOS'I'IC TISSUE MICROBIOLOGY ME'I'HODS-B~mvvR, V~'EED

9 O
-, ..~
-'o

:77"
Figure I. Sulfur granules in purulent
drainage from patient with Actimmo'cesin-
fection.

t" . . ' t

: I

keep illustrative histologic sections that with a clear space surrounding tile faint
have been prepared in our laboratory cell wall of tire organism. The periodic
readily accessible for comparison. Usuall)' acid-Schiff stain also demonstrates the
)'east forms (round bodies) found in vis- surrounding clear space, often with a small
ceral organs prove to be Histoplasma cap- amount of stained material around the
sulatum, Co'ptococcus neofimna,s, Coccidi- periphery of the organism that perhaps
oMes immitis, or Blastomyces dermatitidis. represents shrinkage of the thick polysac-
Co'ptococcus neoformans often appears charide capsule (Fig. 3). The organisms
in hematoxylin and eosin stained sections may show considerable variation in size,

Figure 2. Sectionof sulfur granule in tissue, showi,lgradiating clubl~e projection around peripher)" of 145
granule. (}tematoxylinand eosin stain. •
HUMAN I'ATIIOLOGY--VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2 March 1976

Figure 3. Coptococcusm'oJbrmans,showing clear space surrounding organisms. (Periodic acid-Schiff stain.


x.t00.)

from 4 to 20 p.m., and may be associated darkly staining cell wall o f the u n e n c a p s u -
with a g r a n u l o m a t o u s reaction; in some lated organism stands out readily with the
cases t h e r e may be a minimal inflammatory Gomori m e t h e n a m i n e silver stain. T h e or-
reaction or n o n e at all. *layer's mucicar- ganisms as seen inside macrophages in
mine stain may be used to stain the poly- hematoxylin and eosin stained sections
saccharide capsule. may resemble Toxoplasma or Leishmania;
l!istoplasma capsulatum, on the o t h e r however, organisms o f these two g e n e r a do
hand, appears much m o r e u n i f o r m in size not stain readily with the (,omori methena-
and shape; the organisms usually are 3 to 4 mine silver stain. C o m m o n l y p u l m o n a r y
p.m. in d i a m e t e r (Fig. 4). A granulonmtous granulomas contain structures resembling
response, usually caseous, is found, and the Ilistoplasma capsulatum, but no growth is

Figure 4. llistoplasmacap.~ulatum,demonstrating uniform si.,,Y'cand shape in silver chromate stained tissve


1-'t6 set,i,,,,. ~•
D I A G N O S T I C TISSUE M I C R O B I O L O G Y METIIOI)S-B~EwER, WF.Et)

Figure 5. B&shmo'cesdermatitidL~,showing considerable variatiou in size and the characteristic wide base
:~ttachmel]t it] budding organisms. (Silver chromate stain. •

o b t a i n e d o n f i m g a l cultures. T h e s e struc- f o r m s usually can be seen a n d show the


tures o f t e n a p p e a r d i s t o r t e d a n d st:fin ir- characteristic b r o a d base a t t a c h m e n t . T h e
regularly in histologic sections; t h e y a r e i n f l a m m a t o r y r e s p o n s e to these o r g a n i s m s
t h o u g h t to r e p r e s e n t n o n v i a b l e fimgiY is fi'equently a c o m b i n a t i o n o f s u p i ) u r a t i o n
Bla.~tomyces dermatitidis yeast a r e l a r g e r and granuloma formation.
than llistophmna (8 to 15/tin. in d i a m e t e r ) T h e r o u n d bodies o f Coccidioi~h's ira-
a n d f i e q u e n t l y s h o w c o n s i d e r a b l e variation mills m a y be l a r g e r t h a n a n y o f the o t h e r
in size in tissue sections (Fig. 5). I f t h e r e o r g a n i s m s p r e v i o u s l y m e n t i o n e d , with g r e a t
are m a n y o r g a n i s m s p r e s e n t , b u d d i n g variability in size f r o m 10 to 70 v m . (Fig.

,-.~,~![7~" "-"7;,; "27: :.:.~: ia[ T lyCJtD It~, d i ~ , Z s:,. : 7 ~ . "~:~ i

.- .-...,~., .. . . . . . -.~ ' - 9 , . ..:- i..,..~ .--. -

L' , ~~ t. . ." ~
, 9 ~9 w,"
~t" ..
.'.-=,r"
~ .: : " .
-" 9
:. . . .
".',
".... 9 ,. -, . '.", : ~....,~:~..- ..-~."
.-~,: ~. 7 ~ 7.
9 . 9 ~ :. "~ . 7 ~ . , , ~ ; " " .- . ...-. t,.,'~'. .... .:.
17, .. . .
~:~ '. :. ~ , ' , . '~. ' ~ "a,., :; , , ' . . . ' i ~ 99 , / . ',..;:..":~ . ' ~ '. ~ ..

~" a' .~ .-...,It . , ~"a" ,." , .:.'". '.~:'.',~l,<, .,~-'.7;. '. ,


:r..,,z,

F i g u r e 6. Cocchliohles imm#i~, s h o w i n g an e n d o s p o r u l a t i n g s p h e r u l e . I I " o n l ) ' t h e e n d o s p o , e s are seen, t h e y


can be c o n f u s e d w i t h Coptocorcu., ne~#~rmam o r Ili.itoplasma. (Silver c h r o m a t e stain, x .t00.) 147
IIUMAN P A T I t O L O G Y - - V O L U M E 7, NUMBER 2 March 1976

6). T h e s e spherules m a y be visible in he- yeastlike f o r m s o f Camlida m e a s u r e a b o u t 2


tnatoxylin a n d eosin stained sections a n d to 4 ~ m . a n d s o m e may exhibit g e r m tubes
definitely can be seen with the G o m o r i or p s e u d o h y p h a e b r a n c h i n g off the oval
tnethenanfine silver sthin. T h e sphernles structnres.
m a y a p p e a r hollow, or any n u m b e r o f en- Patients receiving i t n m u n o s u p p r e s -
d o s p o r e s m a y be visible within tltem. T h i s sire t h e r a p y a n d suspected o f having Pneu-
endbsporulatiota o f Coccidioides immitis is in mocystis carinii infection shottld u n d e r g o
contrast to the b u d d i n g forth o f r e p r o d n c - h m g biopsy w h e n possible. T h i s is nsually
tion seen with Co'ptococcus new,tartans, llislo- d o n e transbronchoscopically at o n r insti-
plasma capsulatum, anti Blastom)'ces dermati- tution, a n d the technique generally has
tidis. I f no s p h e r u l e s are f o u n d and only been snccessful in d e m o n s t r a t i n g the or-
small e n d o s p o r e s are seen, the organisnas ganisms in sections o f the biopsy material
conld be confitsed with llistoplasma or stained with Gontori tnethetmnfine silver. TM
Cryptococctts. Rhinosporidium seeberi is an- L u n g i m p r i n t s o f the biopsy s p e c i m e n also
o t h e r o r g a n i s m with e n d o s p o r n l a t i n g may be stained by this tnethod, circunlvent-
s p h e r u l e s d e m o n s t r a b l e in tissue sections; ing the time reqnired for tissue fixation
however, tltese s p h e r u l e s tnay reach 200 anti p r o c e s s i n g anti providing a m o r e r a p i d
/xm. in diatneter, stain with Mayer's muci- diagnosis o f Pneumoo'stis carinii pnennaoni-
' c a r m i n e stain, anti usnally infect only skin tis.
a n d mucotts m e m b r a n e s ?
Sporothrixschenckii nmy rarely cansc dis-
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l)Msion of Infectious Diseases


and Internal Medicine
Ma)o Clinic and Mayo Foundation
Rochester, Minnesota 55901 (Dr. Brewer)

149

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