Antimycobacterial Activity of Tuberculostatic Factor on Intracellular Bacilli

[摘要] This study demonstrated that the tuberculostatic factor of human serum cannot exert its effect on intracellular bacilli in macrophages collected from normal, tuberculin-negative guinea pigs. It was found, however, that infected, immune macrophages in the presence of tuberculostatic human serum showed significantly inhibited bacillary multiplication. Since infected, immune cells maintained in a bacillary growth-supporting medium did not inhibit the multiplication, it was concluded that the intracellular inhibition in the presence of human serum was caused by tuberculostatic factor. Once tuberculostatic factor was introduced into phagocytic cells with sensitized bacilli, inhibition took place in the absence of the antimycobacterial factor in tissue culture medium.The results suggest that the permeability of “immune” macrophages is different from that of normal cells. This permeability of cells collected from vaccinated animals might be attributed to their state of hypersensitivity, which is triggered by the intracellular bacilli or their products.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）