Abstract
Experimental pneumococcal pneumonia was produced in albino rats by intrabronchial inoculation of Type I pneumococci suspended in mucin. The resulting pneumonia was uniformly fatal in untreated rats. Eighty per cent of the animals so infected and treated with sulfonamide drugs 6 hours after inoculation survived the pneumonia. At the end of 1 week the surviving animals were sacrificed, and examination of the lungs showed sharply demarcated localized pulmonary lesions containing no pneumococci. Microscopic study of the lungs of treated animals sacrificed at 6, 18, 42, 66, 96, and 168 hours after the start of treatment revealed the following sequence of events. During the first 18 hours the drug apparently had little effect upon the pneumonic lesion, but at the end of 18 hours pneumococci in the edema zone began to show striking changes in their morphology, indicating bacteriostesis. Forty-two hours after the start of treatment the edema zone had disappeared, the pneumonia had ceased to spread, and the pneumococci at the margin of the lesion had been overtaken by leucocytes. Careful examination of the exudate in the periphery of the lesion revealed definite phagocytosis of pneumococci. By the 4th day no pneumococci could be found in the stained sections, and after 1 week there remained only macrophages in the rapidly clearing alveoli. In order to demonstrate the phagocytic reaction more clearly the effect of sulfonamide drugs was studied in pneumonic rats previously rendered leucopenic by exposure to x-ray. The pneumonia in these animals was relatively acellular, and the few macrophages present in each alveolus could be seen to have phagocyted large numbers of pneumococci after 18 to 42 hours of treatment. The macrophages not only phagocyted the pneumococci but ultimately destroyed them, the pneumonic lesion later going on to complete resolution. The fact that this phagocytic reaction was observed in the lungs of animals with bacteremia suggests that the phagocytosis is independent of circulating type-specific opsonins.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.0 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Fleming A. Antiseptics and Chemotherapy: (Section of Odontology). Proc R Soc Med. 1940 Jan;33(3):127–136. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goodner K., Miller D. K. THE PROTECTIVE ACTION OF TYPE I ANTIPNEUMOCOCCUS SERUM IN MICE : II. THE COURSE OF THE INFECTIOUS PROCESS. J Exp Med. 1935 Aug 31;62(3):375–391. doi: 10.1084/jem.62.3.375. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robertson O. H., Graeser J. B., Coggeshall L. T., Harrison M. A. THE RELATION OF CIRCULATING ANTIPNEUMOCOCCAL IMMUNE SUBSTANCES TO THE COURSE OF LOBAR PNEUMONIA I. NATURAL IMMUNE SUBSTANCES. J Clin Invest. 1934 Jul;13(4):621–631. doi: 10.1172/JCI100610. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Spring W. C., Lowell F. C., Finland M. STUDIES ON THE ACTION OF SULFAPYRIDINE ON PNEUMOCOCCI. J Clin Invest. 1940 Jan;19(1):163–177. doi: 10.1172/JCI101109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Taylor F. H., Lowell F. C., Adams M. A., Spring W. C., Finland M., Marean N. E. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BLOOD CONCENTRATIONS AND URINARY EXCRETION OF SULFAPYRIDINE AND SULFANILAMIDE AFTER SINGLE DOSES OF SULFAPYRIDINE AND RELATED COMPOUNDS ADMINISTERED BY VARIOUS ROUTES. J Clin Invest. 1940 Jan;19(1):201–213. doi: 10.1172/JCI101111. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Terrell E. E. CHANGES IN HUMORAL IMMUNITY OCCURRING DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF EXPERIMENTAL PNEUMOCOCCUS INFECTION. J Exp Med. 1930 Feb 28;51(3):425–440. doi: 10.1084/jem.51.3.425. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tillett W. S., McCormack J. E., Cambier M. J. THE TREATMENT OF LOBAR PNEUMONIA WITH PENICILLIN. J Clin Invest. 1945 Jul;24(4):589–594. doi: 10.1172/JCI101640. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ward H. K., Enders J. F. AN ANALYSIS OF THE OPSONIC AND TROPIC ACTION OF NORMAL AND IMMUNE SERA BASED ON EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PNEUMOCOCCUS. J Exp Med. 1933 Mar 31;57(4):527–547. doi: 10.1084/jem.57.4.527. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wood W. B. STUDIES ON THE MECHANISM OF RECOVERY IN PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA : I. THE ACTION OF TYPE SPECIFIC ANTIBODY UPON THE PULMONARY LESION OF EXPERIMENTAL PNEUMONIA. J Exp Med. 1941 Jan 31;73(2):201–222. doi: 10.1084/jem.73.2.201. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]