[Ultrastructure of Clostridium tetani. I. Structural features of the surface structures of vegetative cells]. / Ul'trastruktura Clostridium tetani. Soobshchenie I. Osobennosti stroeniia poverkhnostnykh struktur vegetativnykh kletok.

Crest-like structures formed by internal layer of cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane were revealed in G1.tetani 471 by electron microscopy with the use of negative contrasting, ultrathin sections and freezing-etching. The transverse section of these crest-like structures was 56.3 nm and they were localized 4 to 6 in one row girdling the protoplast in different directions. Ring-like subunits located in rows with the periodicity of 5.9 nm, perpendicularly to the long axis of the cell, were revealed on the surface of the cell wall.

[Fine morphology of the anomalies of sporulation in Clostridium tetani]. / Tonkaia morfologiia anomalii formirovaniia spor u Clostridium tetani.

The electron microscopic study of the cultures of Cl. tetani strains Nos. 154 and 741 has been carried out, starting from the late stationary phase of their development in a liquid culture medium prepared on the basis of casein hydrolysate. Under experimental conditions sporogenesis is observed in 17-33% of the organisms in the population of strain No. 154 and in 7-14% of the organisms in the population of strain No. 471. In most of the sporulating cells sporogenesis occurs in consecutive stages commonly observed in clostridia. Anomalies in the formation of pores are manifested by the ectopic initial formation of protospores, the disordered excess growth of osmiophil structures of the exosporic type, the early lysis of the cytoplasmic structures of the sporangium cell or the spore itself. Such changes resulting in the death of the cell are regarded as the pathomorphology of the bacterial cell.

[The immunochemistry of the antigenic fractions of Clostridium tetani toxin]. / Immunokhimiia antigennykh fraktsii stolbniachnogo toksina Clostridium tetani.

The localization of tetanospasmin and tetanolysin in C. tetani cells has been determined by the cytochemical method in the dynamics of the development of the microbial population. As shown in this investigation, tetanolysin, similarly to exotoxins, is released from microbial cells into the culture fluid mainly during the first 24 hours of cultivation, while tetanospasmin, similarly to endotoxins, is released only in the process of the destruction of these cells at the phase of the death of the microbial population.

[Use of a synthetic medium for cultivating pathogenic anaerobes]. / Primenenie sinteticheskoi sredy dlia kul'tivirovaniia patogennykh anaerobov

It was shown that a synthetic medium suggested by the authors earlier was useful for the growth and toxin formation of Cl. tetani, Cl. botulinum and Cl. perfringens, types B and E. A study of the character of growth and toxinogensis, microscopic examination of morphology of culture cells and results of passages showed the suggested synthetic medium to be of value; a possibility of its application for studying the nutrient requirements and the role of individual components of the nutrient media in the process of growth and toxinogenesis was also demonstrated.

Considerations on the value of freeze-etching technique in studying the ultrastructure of some anaerobic bacteria.

Samples from periodic cultures of Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium oedematiens, Clostridium tetani and Bifidobacterium bifidum grown in liquid nutrient media were studied after freeze-fracturing and etching without pretreatment by means of chemical agents including cryo-protectants. Subunits in the cell all of Cl. tetani and differences in the distribution of globular particles in the plasma membrane of the investigated bacteria are revealed.