Influence of immunosuppression on the action of antimycobacterial drugs in experimental tuberculosis. I. Effects of isoniazid, rifampicin and streptomycin on the survival of tuberculous mice immunosuppressed by azathioprine (Imuran).

The influence of the host immunosuppression on antimycobacterial effects of isoniazid, rifampicin or streptomycin was studied on animal models. Differences in survival rates of mice influenced or uninfluenced by azathioprine (Imuran) and exposed to six applications of antituberculous drugs (given once a day in the monotherapy) were statistically evaluated. The dose-dependent antimycobacterial effects of rifampicin or isoniazid were not significantly altered by the immunosuppression of the host. In contrary to that definite dose-dependent effect of streptomycin, observed in azathioprine-uninfluenced mice, cannot be confirmed in immunosuppressed mice in which no effect of streptomycin on the survival of tuberculous mice could be estimated.

Immunoprofile studies in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. III. Study of haemolytic complement in serum and phagocytic activity of blood neutrophils.

The total level of haemolytic complement in serum, and the phagocytic activity of blood neutrophils were found to be significantly increased in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis prior to treatment. A relationship could not, however, be demonstrated between the elevation in the two studied values and the extent of tuberculous changes in the lungs of the patients.

Reaction of mouse lung tissue on the experimental airborne Klebsiella pneumoniae infection.

There are described the histological changes in the lung tissue of mice after airborne infection with the strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae CNCTC Klp 80/66 and CNCTC 82/67 whose clearance is significantly different. Using the strain Klp 82/67, which is fairly prompt eliminated from lungs, no morphological changes in the mucous membrane of bronchi were found. Using the strain Klp 80/66, which is characterised by a multiplication of organisms in the lungs already in the initial phase of infection without any remarkable adaptative phase, the accumulation of neutrophils in the walls and on the surface of bronchi was observed. The accumulation retarded during 48 hours when mostly the mononuclear cells were present. Uptake of 3H-thymidine in the lung tissue in vivo demonstrated that the proliferation response of bronchial lymphoid tissue is a relatively early reaction. Histological examination of spontaneously died animals revealed the changes characteristic for the purulent bronchopneumonia. The pathogenic activity of various Klebsiella pneumoniae strains is obviously conditioned by at least two factors, i. e. by surface structures determining the rate of bacterial elimination from the lungs and by the lipoprotein components of the cell walls inducing the leucocytes mobilization into bronchial tissue.