Studies on the pathogenicity of aerobic actinomycetes inoculated into mice intravenously

Abstract

Groups of young male mice were inoculated intravenously with 0.2 ml of a 0.1% suspension of 3 strains of Nocardia asteroides, 3 strains of N. brasiliensis, one each of Streptomyces madurae, S. griseus, S. coelicolor, and an unknown species of Streptomyces. Simultaneously the mice were given 0.5 ml of a 5% suspension of mucin intraperitoneally. The mice were killed at various intervals and the internal organs removed. Total population counts of the spleen and streak isolations of the other organs were done. Growth curves so obtained showed that, of the species tested, only N. asteroides was capable of significant multiplication in the spleen and that both N. asteroides and N. brasiliensis maintained viability in the tissues for 3 weeks. All other species were cleared by the second day since attempted isolations were negative after this time.