title: Cytotoxic activity of crude extracts of Bacteroides gingivalis.
abstract: The cytotoxic activities of culture supernates, crude cell extracts and cell-wall materials of Bacteroides gingivalis were investigated in vitro. Each component was cytotoxic to Vero cells and, to a lesser extent, Wi 38 cells. The cytotoxic agents had similar effects on the cell lines to butyric acid, propionic acid and a partially-purified trypsin-like protein extracted from a clinical isolate of B. gingivalis; the effects were eliminated by heat. Cytotoxic materials obtained from young cultures were more susceptible to heat than those from older cultures. The heart-labile substance inside and outside the bacterial cell in young cultures of B. gingivalis may contribute to its overall cytotoxic activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Eke
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Laughon
authors.forename: V O
authors.initials: VO
authors.lastname: Rotimi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D001439:Bacteroides / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000502:physiology; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D005347:Fibroblasts; D006801:Humans; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D014709:Vero Cells
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003603:Cytotoxins; D005227:Fatty Acids