Abstract
Summary and Summary
1) Membrane-filtered water-soluble constituents of sonic-disrupted cells from peritoneal exudates of 2 strains of albino rats exert a definite inhibitory effect on cultivability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, strain H37Ra, in phosphate buffer at pH 6.8 on 24 hours′ contact at 37°C, inhibition being almost complete after 48 hours incubation. 2) Similarly treated extracts of cells from peritoneal exudates of normal guinea pigs standardized in the same manner have no effect. 3) Differential cell counts of preparations from which extracts were made indicated that 90 to 95% of cells in exudates from both species were “large mononuclear” macrophages. Rat exudates, however, contained 4 to 6% mast cells, absent in guinea pig exudates. The significance of mast cells in antibacterial activity noted was not determined in the work reported here.
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