Abstract
Mice were injected intraperitoneally with one of the following bacterial products having endotoxin activity: pertussis vaccine, a suspension of heat-killed cells of Klebsiella pneumoniae (type C), or a purified lipopolysaccharide prepared from cultures of Salmonella typhosa. Following treatment with either one of these materials, the animals were infected intravenously with virulent cultures of coagulase-positive staphylococci, with bovine tubercle bacilli, or Friedländer bacilli. The effect of treatment with endotoxin materials on resistance to Friedländer bacilli, staphylococci, or tubercle bacilli was estimated by observing the mortality rates in infected animals, and by determining quantitatively the numbers of living bacteria in the organs at different periods of time after infection. It was found that mice receiving the infective dose of virulent culture a few hours after treatment with the endotoxin material, were usually more susceptible to infection than were untreated animals. In contrast, mice infected at a later period proved far more resistant to infection than did untreated animals. The duration of the negative and of the positive phase of resistance was affected by the amount of endotoxin injected. Marked increase in resistance of mice to infection with staphylococci or tubercle bacilli was still evident several weeks after treatment with pertussis vaccine or with purified lipopolysaccharide extracted from typhoid bacilli.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (663.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- PIERCE C. H., DUBOS R. J., SCHAEFER W. B. Multiplication and survival of tubercle bacilli in the organs of mice. J Exp Med. 1953 Feb 1;97(2):189–206. doi: 10.1084/jem.97.2.189. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- PILLEMER L., BLUM L., LEPOW I. H., ROSS O. A., TODD E. W., WARDLAW A. C. The properdin system and immunity. I. Demonstration and isolation of a new serum protein, properdin, and its role in immune phenomena. Science. 1954 Aug 20;120(3112):279–285. doi: 10.1126/science.120.3112.279. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- PILLEMER L., ROSS O. A. Alterations in serum properdin levels following injection of Zymosan. Science. 1955 May 20;121(3151):732–733. doi: 10.1126/science.121.3151.732. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- ROWLEY D. Stimulation of natural immunity to Escherichia coli infection: observations on mice. Lancet. 1955 Jan 29;268(6857):232–234. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(55)90163-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- SCHAEDLER R. W., DUBOS R. J. Reversible changes in the susceptibility of mice to bacterial infections. II. Changes brought about by nutritional disturbances. J Exp Med. 1956 Jul 1;104(1):67–84. doi: 10.1084/jem.104.1.67. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- SMITH J. M., DUBOS R. J. The behavior of virulent and avirulent staphylococci in the tissues of normal mice. J Exp Med. 1956 Jan 1;103(1):87–108. doi: 10.1084/jem.103.1.87. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WEBSTER M. E., SAGIN J. F., LANDY M., JOHNSON A. G. Studies on the O antigen of Salmonella typhosa. I. Purification of the antigen. J Immunol. 1955 Jun;74(6):455–465. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]