Role of cholesterol and the ganglioside GM1 in entry and short-term survival of Brucella suis in murine macrophages

Brucella species are gram-negative, facultative intracellular bacteria that infect humans and animals. These organisms can survive and replicate within a membrane-bound compartment inside professional and nonprofessional phagocytic cells. Inhibition of phagosome-lysosome fusion has been proposed as a mechanism for intracellular survival in both types of cells. We have previously shown that the maturation inhibition of the Brucella-containing phagosome appears to be restricted at the phagosomal membrane, but the precise molecular mechanisms and factors involved in this inhibition have yet to be identified. Interestingly, recent studies have revealed that caveolae or lipid rafts are implicated in the entry of some microorganisms into host cells and mediate an endocytic pathway avoiding fusion with lysosomes. In this study, we investigated the role of cholesterol and the ganglioside GM(1), two components of lipid rafts, in entry and short-term survival of Brucella suis in murine macrophages, by using cholesterol-sequestering (filipin and beta-methyl cyclodextrin) and GM(1)-binding (cholera toxin B) molecules. Our results suggest that lipid rafts may provide a portal for entry of Brucella into murine macrophages under nonopsonic conditions, thus allowing phagosome-lysosome fusion inhibition, and provide further evidence to support the idea that the phagosome maturation inhibition is restricted at the phagosomal membrane.