THE EFFECT OF PENICILLIN ON THE STRUCTURE OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL CELL WALLS

Abstract

Cultures of sensitive stains of Staphylococcus aureus were fixed with osmium tetroxide after 1–5 hours' exposure to various does of pencillin and were embedded in methacrylate for sectioning and electron microscopy. They were compared with untreated, control cultures. The contrast of the cell wall material was untreated, control cultures. The contrast of the cell wall material was increased, by cutting the section of lanthanum nitrate.The cells increased in size and the surrounding cell wall was thinner than normal. The main lesions appeared in the developing cell wall septa, which showed a loss in density and gross irregularity of shape. Some questionable inclusions were seen in the cytoplasm. Lysis was prevented in a medium containing 0.3 M sucrose and the stable spheroplasts retained a recognizable cell wall after 24 hours' exposure to penicillin. However, the septa could not be demonstrated in the cells treated in sucrose medium.Two resistant strains were exposed to penicillin. In one, the cells showed no morphological effects; in the other, there was temporary damage to the cell septa with complete recovery.The observations support the hypothesis that penicillin interferes with the synthesis of a cell wall component and indicate that the main point of cell wall synthesis is at the site of septum formation.