THE EFFECT OF PURIFIED FRACTIONS OF TUBERCULIN ON TUBERCULIN-SENSITIVE TISSUE - QUANTITATIVE STUDIES ON TISSUE CULTURES

Abstract

This supplementary work, confirming previous demonstrations that old tuberculin has a selective toxic action on cells from tuberculous animals, employs derivatives of the tubercle bacillus (purified protein derivative, polysaccharide, and nucleic acid) by studying the toxic -ity of these compounds for tissue cultures of the spleens from normal and tuberculous rabbits, observing the migration of wandering cells in the tissue cultures in fluids to which the several substances had been added in small quantities. The purified protein derivative, like old tuberculin, even in very small quantities, caused a significant decrease in the migration of wandering cells and amt. of growth of fibroblasts in cultures from tuberculous animals; normal cells were not affected. The polysaccharide did not show a specific toxic action, having about the same degree of toxicity for the normal as the tuberculous rabbit''s tissue cells. The nucleic acid proved non-toxic, occasionally stimulating growth.