TOXICITY OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA SLIME

Abstract

technique, and 9 of 20 when an anaerobic jar was used). Thus, anaerobic fermentation of mannitol seems to be too exacting a criterion, but all methods using glucose fermentation classified the 20 coagulase-positive strains as staphylococci.The classification of other staphylococci into S. saprophyticus and S. lactis on their ability to produce acetoin from glucose (Shaw et al.) was not supported by the results of tests reported here. Some strains of each of these species were, in the newer tests, classified a's staphylococci and some as micrococci, but the different methods did not agree in every case. The best agreement was attained when anaerobic fermentation of glucose was tested by Baird-Parker's method, by peptone-water cultures in an anaerobic jar, and by Evans' method when a final pH of less than 5.0 was required.It is clear that those catalase-positive grampositive cocci that ferment glucose under anaerobic conditions can be regarded as staphylococci, and those that fail to do so (because they oxidize the sugar, do not attack it, or do not grow under anaerobic conditions) are not staphylococci and, by inference, are micrococci.At this stage, we recommend that Staphylococcus be divided into two species, S. aureus (coagulase-positive) and S. epidermidis (coagulasenegative). The species previously named S. afermentans was shown to consist of two organisms: one attacked carbohydrates by oxidation; the other did not seem to attack them at all.

Pathogenic Significance of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus: Analysis of Experimental Infection in Mice

“…About 30% of the composition is yet to be determined. The DNA content was approximately 3%, which differs significantly from the results reported by others (5,10,13), in which the main component of slime of P. aeruginosa was DNA.…”

“…pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and the slime produced by staphylococci and P. aeruginosa. These substances are reported to have lethal activity for mice and cytotoxicity for phagocytic cells (4,5,9,10,11,20). Slime-producing bacteria were first described by Haynes (8) in P. aeruginosa cultivated in a liquid medium containing potassium gluconate.…”

“…The present study of the slime-producing ability of A. calcoaceticus in 100 clinically isolated strains revealed that 14 strains (14%) had such ability. Furthermore, the chemical components of slime produced by P. aeruginosa varied with the investigator : some described its main component as polysaccharide (1,3,6) or polyhyaluronic acid (2) and others as DNA (5,10,13). This apparent discrepancy may be due to the difference in chemical components of the slime between the strains and the variations in the procedures used for culture, isolation and purification.…”

“…This apparent discrepancy may be due to the difference in chemical components of the slime between the strains and the variations in the procedures used for culture, isolation and purification. As regards the biological activity of the slime produced by bacteria, Liu et al (10,11), Callahan et al (5), and Brown and Lowbury (4) reported potent lethal activity in the slime of P. aeruginosa in relation to bacterial pathogenicity. Furthermore, Schwarzmann and Boring (19) reported that the slime of P. aeruginosa inhibits phagocytosis of neutrophils.…”

Slime of Pseudomonas aeruginosa : In Vivo Production

“…aeruginosa (9), and in vitro production has been reported under various cultural conditions (5,6,8,9). However, the in vivo production of extracellular slime has not been reported.…”