STUDIES ON REDUCING SUBSTANCES AND GAS FORMATION IN CULTURES OF ENDAMOEBA HISTOLYTICA AND A SINGLE SPECIES OF SYMBIOTIC BACTERIA1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Hagedorn-Jensen method for the quantitative estimation of blood sugar was used to measure the reducing substances diffusing out of the egg base into the overlay of a modified Boeck and Drbohlav medium. Locke''s soln. without serum served as an overlay; in some expts. up to 300 mg. % of glucose was added to this overlay. In sterile medium 37[degree] C with no dextrose in the overlay, diffusion was rapid during the first 24 hrs. and was demonstrable up to a week. In tubes diffusion was most rapid in the lowest layer of the overlay in immediate contact with the egg base; in flasks the diffusion was much more rapid than in tubes. When no initial glucose was present, the conc. of reducing substances in the overlay reached 40 mg. %. When dextrose was added to the overlay, diffusion was proportionately less rapid and of less degree. In cultures of E histolytica with a single species of bacteria, designated as organism t, and in cultures of the bacterium alone, the reducing substances were almost completely utilized during the first 24 hrs. of incubation. No differences could be detected in utilization of reducing substances in cultures of the amoeba and the bacterium or in cultures of the bacterium alone. In the presence of glucose, gas was produced in like amt. and composition in cultures of the bacterium alone and in cultures of the amoeba and the bacterium. Up to 75% of the gas was H2, indicating an anaerobic-metabolism. Much of the remaining 25% was CO2 but a small % consisted of an unknown gas, probably methane.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: