title: Effect of growth environment on Pseudomonas aeruginosa killing by rabbit polymorphonuclear leudocytes and cationic proteins.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown in a chemostat under carbon- and magnesium-limited conditions showed varying resistance to killing by rabbit peritoneal exudate polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Slow-growing (D = 0.05 h-1), magnesium-limited cells were significantly more resistant to the lethal effects of the phagocytes than were fast-growing magnesium-limited cells and carbon-limited cells (D = 0.05 h-1 and D = 0.5 h-1, respectively). The resistance of magnesium-limited cells to killing by cationic proteins isolated from the leukocytes was shown to be growth-rate dependent, the slowest-growing (D = 0.05 h-1) cells being the most resistant. Carbon-limited cells were sensitive to killing by the cationic proteins at all growth rates tested. Antisera raised in rabbits to all types of cells and commercial anti-Pseudomonas serum rapidly agglutinated magnesium-limited cells but failed to agglutinate carbon-limited cells. There was some indication that slow-growing (D = 0.05 h-1), magnesium-limited cells agglutinated most readily with both types of antisera. No difference was detected in the mouse toxicity of heat-killed cells grown under the various conditions.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D001433:Bacteriolysis / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media; D007526:Isoelectric Point; D051379:Mice; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000502:physiology*; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D003470:Culture Media; D011506:Proteins