The Action of Fat-Acids on Trichomonas Vaginalis

[摘要] In studying the in vitro action of over 100 compounds on the motility of trichomonads, MacDonald and Tatum (1) observed that anionic, as well as cationic, surface-active agents are effective in immobilizing and disintegrating this organism. In view of the close chemical relationship between fat-acids and synthetic anionic surface-active agents, it seemed of interest to compare their activity on trichomonads. Trussell and Johnson (2) studied the trichomonacidal effects of various acids including a few fat-acids. Though these workers were conscious of the fact that variation of the hydrogen-ion concentration affects the viability of trichomonads and that it also may affect the action of acids on this organism, they made no efforts to control the pH value of their test-mixtures. Since the trichomonacidal concentrations of acids were determined by these workers at different pH values ranging from 4.1 to 6.3, comparison of the activity of fat-acids with each other and with that of surface-active agents at close to neutral pH value is impossible.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）