Elimination of streptococci in blood stream through the biliary system in the dog.

Abstract

Streptococci injected into the blood stream of the dog, even in massive doses, are removed from the circulating blood with surprising rapidity. Blood cultures made at short intervals show a precipitous decline from more than ten thousand colonies per cubic centimeter to zero within four to six hours. Examination of the tissues within two or three hours show sparsely scattered cocci in the liver, spleen and lungs. In later examinations the organisms are generally difficult to find. Although the leucocyte count rises appreciably following the injections, sometimes fifty per cent or more within five hours, it is difficult to find cocci in the leucocytes in smears prepared at short intervals during the experiment.

While it cannot be denied that many of the organisms are filtered out in the capillary and sinusoidal beds and picked up by phagocytic cells, especially in the spleen, liver and bone marrow, as well as phagocyted by the leucocytes in the circulating blood, our attention has been directed to another mechanism which may be important in the removal of the organisms. In cultures made of the urine and bile it was found that while the urine failed to reveal streptococci, the bile generally became positive. The observations were made on dogs which had been subjected to a preliminary laparotomy several days previously, at which time a small glass tube, to which rubber tubing was attached, was securely tied into the gall-bladder. The rubber tubing, about five millimeters in diameter, was brought through the laparotomy opening and the external portion carefully tied off with a number of ligatures. The wound was then closed and the animal returned to the kennels. At the time of the experiment, the bile was aspirated through the tube by means of a seriologic pipette and at about the same interval as the blood cultures were made from the heart.