IMMUNOGENICITY OF INTRACELLULAR PARTICLES AND CELL WALLS FROM MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS

Abstract

Purified cell walls and intracellular particles, both free of detectable intact bacilli, were isolated by centrifugation from mycobacterial cells disrupted in a Waring Blendor with powdered glass, and from mycobacterial cells disrupted using a French pressure cell. Although more cells were disrupted in the Waring Blendor, a greater yield of intracellular particles was obtained from the French pressure cell. The mycobacterial intracellular particles produced a high and approximately equal degree of immunity in Strong A and CF-1 mice. The mycobacterial cell walls were only weakly immunogenic but slightly more so in Strong A mice. The immunogenicity of the intracellular particles was destroyed by heating at 98[degree]C for 30 min, but the immunogenicity of the cell walls was unaffected by this temperature.