Stimulation of the Growth of a Strain of Corynebacterium Diphtheriae by Polyvinyl Alcohol

Abstract

Certain strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae require, for optimal growth from small inocula, protein containing material such as animal serum, milk, or crude casein in addition to the customary amino acids, salts, vitamins, and carbohydrates (Cohen, Snyder, and Mueller, 1941). Other organisms have analogous requirements, either for proteins or other naturally occurring compounds of high molecular weight, such as starch (Dubos, 1947; Ley and Mueller, 1946; Sloane and McKee, 1949). The possibility exists, however, that the apparent activity of natural products such as protein may be due to some unrecognized contaminant. Efforts, therefore, have been made to replace the crude proteins of our earlier experiments by purer materials such as crystalline bovine serum albumin and by synthetic, water-soluble polymers of high molecular weight. It is the purpose of this paper to present data on one such polymer, polyvinyl alcohol, which show it to be an effective substitute for protein in the case of one strain of C. diphtheriae. MATERIALS, METHODS, AND PROCEDURE I "Casamino acids" (Difco), total nitrogen 10 per cent, sodium chloride 14 per cent. 4 Neutralized with NaOH.

An Analysis of the Nutritional Requirements for Fatty Acids of Paramecium aurelia

“…Glyceryl monoleate and lecithin permitted better growth and were less inhibitory than oleic acid alone. The effect of supplementing the oleic acid-containing medium with other fatty acids was two-fold: (1) growth occurred over a wider range of oleic acid concentrations; ( 2 ) higher population densities were obtained ( Table 4). The growth-inhibitory effect of elevated concentrations of oleic acid was markedly reduced in the presence of a mixture of fatty acids w h w composition was based on the fatty acid composition of TEM-4T.…”

“…They may inhibit the growth of bacteria ( 5,9,22,24), yeast( 1 l ) , pleuropneumonia-like organisms ( 18,19) and protozoa (7,16). In some instances fatty acids can stimulate growth (2,6,15), in others they appear to be essential nutrilites ( 1,4,10,12,16,23). In almost every case the interpretation of the response has been catnplicated because of certain of their physical properties.…”

The Nutritional Requirements of Treponemata V. A

“…With larger inocula than those et al, 1947). Other organisms, however, are so sensitive to the toxic effects of unsaturated fatty acids that some detoxifying agent must be added to the medium in order to permit growth, e.g., saponin for Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (Hutner, 1942), starch for gonococci (Gould et al, 1944), lecithin or certain sterols for Lactobacillus helveticus (Kodicek and Worden, 1945), charcoal for Hemophilw pertussis (Pollock, 1947(Pollock, , 1949, serum albumin, Tween 80, or sphingomyelin for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Dubos and Davis, 1946; Dubos, 1948), Tween 40 for certain lactobacilli (Williams et al, 1947), polyvinyl alcohol for a Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Cohen, 1949), and acacia, lipositol, or whey for Lactobacillus bifidus (Tomarelli et al, 1950).…”