Abstract
Summary
By studying the fate of staphylococci in monocytes maintained in vitro it was established that intracellular survival time of virulent staphylococci is longer in monocytes from newborn rabbits than in monocytes from adult rabbits. Supplementation of the bacterial growth medium and cell maintenance medium with a mixture of deoxynucleosides, deoxynucleotides and MgSO4 resulted in a lengthening of the survival of intracellular staphylococci in phagocytes from adult rabbits. Alterations of survival time were not obtained when the DNA precursors were added to cultures containing cells from newborn animals. Intracellular multiplication of the cocci did not occur under any of the conditions studied. Factors that may be responsible for the differential intracellular survival times of the pathogen, their possible relationship to therapeutic problems and to infections in man have been discussed.
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