Abstract
Summary
Cell lysates derived from peritoneal histiocytes of normal and BCG-immunized rabbits or guinea pigs had no demonstrable direct effect on the morphology, neutral red binding capacity, viability or cytotoxic activity of virulent and attenuated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Histiocytic lysate in combination with Tween 80 was found to be bactericidal for strains of tubercle bacilli but not for a strain of Escherichia coli or a strain of Staphylococcus aureus. The mechanism of this activity appeared to be due to the enzymatic degradation of Tween 80 by histiocytic lipases with the formation of oleic acid. A similar antimycobacterial activity was manifested in mixtures of histiocytic lysates with crude lipid extracts of normal rabbit serum and with lipemic rabbit serum. No difference in activity was found between cell lysates prepared from histiocytes of normal and BCG-immunized rabbits or guinea pigs.
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