Enzymatic hydrolysis of benzoylarginineamide by normal and tuberculous tissue of rabbits.

Abstract

Summary and Conclusions1. Caseous material was produced in the lungs and kidneys of rabbits by intratracheal infection with a virulent, Ravenel culture of tubercle bacilli. The animals were killed at intervals of from 5 to 20 weeks after infection. The lungs and kidneys, together with the livers and spleens, were removed immediately after exsanguination and death of the animals, preserved at a very low temperature in a dry ice refrigerator, and examined for enzymatic activity.2. Homogenates of tuberculous lung tissue containing very large amounts of caseous material can hydrolyze benzoylarginineamide (BAA) at pH 5.1 at a more rapid rate than those of homologous normal tissues. The lungs and kidneys of animals which were first immunized with a non-virulent culture before reinfection with a virulent strain of M. tuberculosis were found to have greater enzymatic activity than those with a primary infection.3. These results are analogous to those of Lurie who showed an increased capacity of rabbit tissue to d...