Abstract
Macrophages derived from cortisone-treated or untreated guinea pigs were infected with virulent tubercle bacilli and maintained in tissue culture. The fate of intracellular bacilli was determined. It was shown that the rates of bacillary multiplication within these two populations of macrophages were practically identical. Cytologic studies, however, revealed that the intracellular infection was toxic to the host cells derived from cortisone-treated animals. Serum from EGG-vaccinated animals was shown to protect the infected cells from the cortisone-treated animals against toxic injury, but its presence in culture medium did not alter the rate of intracellular bacillary multiplica tion. Hence, the increased susceptibility of cortisone-treated animals to tuberculous in fection is not likely to be caused by an altered rate of intracellular multiplication of tubercle bacilli but by the enhanced susceptibility of the host cells to toxic injury imposed by the intracellular multiplication of the pathogen.
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