Morphological Changes of Bacteria Induced by Chemotherapeutic Agents. III

Abstract

The morphological changes in bacteria induced by antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents have been reported in the literatures^(1~5).

Since elongation of E. coli cells was noticed under the influence of anticancer agents, we studied this respect in details and divided chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics into 3 groups and 6 types according to the morphological changes in E.coli B cells treated with these substances⁶⁾. Most of anticancer agents are grouped into the 1 st group (elongation group); most of antibacterial and antifungal agents into the 2nd group (agglomeration group); and some anticancer and antibacterial agents into the 3rd group (apparently no morphological change). The followings are the detailed description of the morphological changes in the cells of E.coli B and other Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria induced by several representative substances belonging to the respective group.