Antibody synthesis in vitro has been studied wtth immunologically competent cells of lymphoid tissue in radioactive culture medium. Specific antibody proteins have been isolated and characterized from such a system. However, non-specific radioactive proteins which coprectpitated with heterologous precipitates were also found in the culture medium (Ketson and Katchen, 1956; Wolf and Stavitsky, 1958; Stavitsky 1958, 1960, 1961; Dutton et al., 1958; Askonas and Humphrey, 1958; Vaughan et al., 1960; Bussard and Huynh, 1960; and Thorbecke, 1960). The so-called non-specific proteins were produced by normal and immunologically competent cells; they had the capacity to absorb to antigen-antibody complexes and were found in the alpha and beta globulin protein fractions. These properties suggested that such non-specific proteins might be complement. In this laboratory, non-specific coprecipitating proteins were also found to be present in culture medium in which immunologically competent cells were Incubated. This observation,as well as those previously mentioned, initiated this investigation in order to determine whether or not these non-specific proteins were identlcal with complement and also to identify the tissues concerned with the synthesis. [...]

[...] The purpose of the present investigation has been to continue the study of the antiviral substance in greater detail. The experimental work was designed to investigate various properties of the active material using influenza virus as the test virus and also to study its effect on influenza virus and other viruses under a variety of conditions. Àttempts were made also to further purify and concentrate the substance and to determine its chemical nature. The mode of action of the active principle was also investigated in seme detail. In addition, the effect of the antiviral substance on certain viral haemolysins was studied. [...]

Girard (54) found that rabbits in a state of induced monocytosis produced antisera of higher titre than normal rabbits. He also demonstrated that during active or passive immunization, the antibodies were concentrated in the monocytes. These findings suggest that monocytes may play a part in the production of antibodies or merely store them. Exudates rich in monocytes were obtained from rabbits in a state of artificially induced monocytosis. The monocytosis was induced by injections of MPA (Monocytosis producing agent) which was prepared from an extract of L. monocytogenes. [...]

At the close of the nineteenth century Lehmann and Neumann (1896) designed the genus Corynebacterium as a suitable pigeon-hole in their scheme of Bacterial classification for the organism producing the disease diphtheria and a few other organisms which were considered similar for morphological reasons. The genus consisted entirely of human and animal pathogenic or parasitic bacteria characterized by irregular, often club-like cell shapes, Gram-positive but showing irregular staining, non-acid-fast, non-motile, lacking endospores and having a predominently aerobic habitat.

Previous work in this department has demonstrated that changes accompanying the acquisition of chloramphenicol resistance in Salmonella indicate structural changes in the surface of resistant organisms. Like changes have been indicated by other workers investigating both Gram-positive and Gram-negative chloramphenicol-resistant organisms. The additional observations of increased cross resistance to other antibiotics such as penicillin implies a possible non-specific mechanism of resistance such as an impermeability barrier in the cell.

In sharp contrast to the wealth of chemical knowledge of the nature of the lipids of mycobacteria (Anderson 1940, 1942, Siebert 1950) is the scarcity of facts available to indicate the routes by which fats are metabolized by these organisms. One of the most distinctive features of the Mycobacteriaceae is the ability to attack a wide range of fatty acids and this trait is found both in the highly virulent and in the saprophytic members.

When chloramphenicol was first used for the treatment of typhoid fever, it was observed that although patients responded very well to treatment with this antibiotic, relapses occurred more frequently. It has been postulated that the increased incidence of relapse is a result of a lack in the production of natural immunity during the course of infection caused by a destruction or alteration of the antigenic components of Salmonella typhosa due to its exposure to chloramphenicol. Since that time it has been found that Salmonella typhosa, when made resistant to chloramphenicol "in vitro", has altered antigenic character as determined by agglutination reactions.

The consistent isolation and accurate classification of the pathogenic anaerobic Actinomyces from clinically and histopathologically diagnosed cases of actinomycosis is not always possible. This, it is felt, is due primarily to the lack of known differentiating characteristics of the smooth, A. bovis, Harz 1877 form of the etiological agent. A method which facilitates the isolation of the anaerobic organisms from heavily contaminated specimens is discussed. [...]

In 1947 D.G. Denton (Murray, Denton, Stevenson, and Diena, 1957) isolated a mold, later identified as Penicillium cyaneo-fulvum, and demonstrated that it produced in culture a substance which neutralized staphylococcal alpha-haemolysin. In subsequent work on this toxin-neutralizing agent, Diena (1954 and 1956) developed a method of purifying the toxin-neutralizing substance and established that it neutralized a wide spectrum of bacterial toxins. The toxin neutralizing substance derived from culture filtrates of P. cyaneo-fulvum has been designated Noxiversin. The purpose of this investigation was to study some of the characteristics of the neutralization of staphylococcal alphahaemolysin by Noxiversin.

In 1947 a mould was found growing as a contaminant on a Lowenstein's slope which had been inoculated with sputum for the isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Investigation of the mould showed that it produced, in addition to an antibiotic probably identical with penicillin, a substance capable of neutralizing various bacterial exotoxins (Diena, 1954, 1956; Murray, Denton, Stevenson,and Diena, 1958). The toxin neutralizing substance, now known as noxiversin, was shown to possess, in addition to its antitoxic properties, some activity against influenza virus (Diena, 1956).