EFFECT OF MYCOSTATIN AND FUNGIZONE ON THE GROWTH OF HISTOPLASMA CAPSULATUM IN TISSUE CULTURE,

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Abstract
The destructive effects of H. capsulatum on cell cultures could be completely suppressed by the addition of 25 units of mycostatin or 0.1 ug of fungizone/ml 24 hrs. after initial infection. The per cent of macro-phages showing parasitization was markedly reduced in cultures to which the drugs had been added, whereas control cultures inoculated at the same time showed that extensive proliferation of the organism had taken place. This reduction in the number of parasitized macro-phages was not correlated with a reduction in the total cell population. Intracellular structures resembling yeast cells were observed in the cytoplasm of macrophages from cultures to which drug had been added. These forms were distorted and failed to stain in a manner characteristic of viable cells of H. capsulatum. The structures were interpreted as representing drug-inhibited organisms undergoing intracellular degeneration. These data suggest that both mycostatin and fungizone were capable of entering macrophages and inhibiting the cells of H. capsulatum therein. There was no level of these drugs which would completely inhibit extra-cellular multiplication of H. capsulatum in tissue cultures of mouse macrophages without at the same time affecting to some degree the intracellular parasites.