Experimental Salmonellosis

Unstable L Forms in Liver of Infected Mice

Abstract

Mice were infected with smooth or rough strains of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium and viable bacterial cells found in the liver of the inoculated animals were enumerated by plating homogenates of tissues on nutrient agar plates containing 0.35 M sucrose. Some rough strains of these Salmonella were recovered in the bacteria seen on these plates and appeared able to form colonies only on the sucrose-containing medium but not on an identical medium without added sucrose. This population did not appear in the liver of animals until at least 24 hr after infection. The number of bacteria capable of forming colonies only on the hypertonic medium was found to vary with the time after infection and the strain of bacteria used for infection. From the results of morphological examination of cells of the colonies developing on the hypertonic plates, these bacterial forms were thought to result from unstable L forms in the infected tissues. Possible processes of the formation of these L forms in vivo and their significance in induction of anti-infectious immunity are discussed.