Identification of Mycoplasma Muris Isolated from Vaginal Samples of NIH Mice

Mycoplasma muris (M.M) is a small pathogenic bacterium that lives in the female mouse genital tract. Mycoplasma muris may have harmful effects on the reproductive health of female. This research was performed to optimize the detection of M. muris in NIH mice in the Department of Animal Breeding, Razi Vaccine and Research Institute, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 29 vaginal samples of NIH mice were selected through simple random sampling. For detection of the mycoplasma, the vaginal tissue removal of samples was done. First, samples were crushed using mortar and pestle with PBS 1ml, then were cultured in the PPLO broth and incubated at 37°C for 24h, they were passed through 0.45 μm pore-size filters and inoculated into specific PPLO broth and agar media for 3-4 weeks. In the next section, the PCR test was used with primers of 16S rRNA gene of M. muris. From 29 tested samples, 17.24% samples were positive for M. muris by PCR method, while 35.93% cultures showed positive. The phylogenetic analysis indicated a new strain of M. muris. The results of culture and PCR methods displayed the contamination in NIH mice. Therefore, Therefore, more researches are needed regarding the presence of mycoplasma for treatment and clinical signs.