FATE OF NON-VIRULENT GROUP A STREPTOCOCCI PHAGOCYTIZED BY HUMAN AND MOUSE NEUTROPHILS

Abstract

By use of electric shock, it was possible to disrupt neutrophils in glass slide preparations at any desired time following phagocytosis, liberating the ingested cocci which then proliferated or not depending on whether they had been injured by sojourn within the phagocyte. In 187 experiments with 2 non-virulent group A streptococcal strains phagocytized by human and mouse leukocytes it was found that the calculated 50% survival time was 8 minutes in the human cells and 6.75 minutes in the mouse cells. In general, cocci usually proliferated when liberated after intracellular sojourn of less than 5 minutes, whereas those liberated after 20 or more minutes usually failed to proliferate.