SEPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF ^|^ldquo;IN VIVO GROWN TUBERCLE BACILLI^|^rdquo; ASSOCIATED WITH THE LYSOSOMAL MEMBRANE

Abstract
“In vivo grown tubercle bacilli”were separated mechanically from infected mouse lungs. The bacilli, unlike the same strain grown in vitro, were hydrophilic. The former were different from the latter by lowered activities of acid phosphatase at pH 6.5 and of tetrazolium-reduction, and also by new activities of acid proteinase and of acid phosphatase functional at much lower pH. Combination of Gomori stain for acid phosphatase at pH 5.0 and Ziehl-Neelsen stain revealed the association of the in vivo bacilli with membraneous tissue components with Gomori-positive reaction prolucts and some of the bacilli themselves stained black. Such observations were never obtained with in vitro grown bacilli. When the in vitro grown bacilli were incubated with lysosomal components separated from the mouse tissue, the surface of the bacilli showed a strong affinity to the lysosomal components, and in vitro tests demonstrated that the enzymatic activities of the bacilli changed into the pattern of the in vivo bacilli. The water-soluble peptide fraction and the free fatty acid fraction of the lysosomal components were found responsible for lowering the activities of tetrazolium-reduction and acid phosphatase specific for the bacilli.

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