INTERACTION BETWEEN BORRELIA VINCENTII AND AN ORAL DIPHTHEROID

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Abstract
The growth of a laboratory strain of Borrelia vincentii was found to be stimulated by a microaerophilic diphtheroid which had been isolated from the human mouth. A modified auxanographic method was used, in which 1 drop of a washed suspension of diphtheroids was placed on the surface of a petri dish containing Huntoon''s hormone medium seeded with B. vincentii. The stimulation was evidenced by the development of spirochetal agglomerations adjacent to the diphtheroid colony. A variety of known compounds were tested for an effect similar to that produced by the diphtheroid. Of those tested, only cocarboxylase and acetyl phosphate proved active. Chromatographic studies of cell-free extracts of ground diphtheroids disclosed the presence therein of a compound similar to acetyl phosphate, but no evidence of cocarboxylase was discovered.