thi: <;i:x us actixouycks 



13 



the basis of their chemical data, they sug- 

 gested thai i here was very little justification 

 for placing bovine strains even in the same 

 genus with the si rains of A. israelii. Of the 

 12 strains received as .1. bovis, two were 

 identical with the human strains, two showed 

 a cell wall pattern unlike anything hitherto 

 recorded, i wo appeared to be corynebacteria, 

 and the remaining six formed a homogene- 

 ous group which seemed to he closely related 

 to lactobacilli. If cell wall composition is to 

 he considered as any guide to the classifica- 

 tion of these strains, the criteria used for the 

 identification of .1. bovis are insufficient and 

 many of the investigators who identified the 

 strain were not properly qualified to do so. 



Thompson and Lovestedl (1 ( .>.">1) isolated 

 cultures from the months of 'J 1 patients. In 

 addition to two positive cultures of .1. 

 israelii, nine of the cultures comprised an 

 organism which grew under both aerobic and 

 anaerobic conditions. They considered the 

 latter to lie a saprophyte found in the mouth, 

 frequently confused with A. israelii. The 

 name .1. naeslundii was proposed for these 

 cultures. 



Howell et <d. (1959) made a comparison of 

 200 strains of Actinomyces isolated from the 

 oral cavity in the absence of actinomycosis, 

 and 11 isolated from actinomycotic lesions. 

 These strains were of two main types, one 

 corresponding to the organisms described 

 under the name .1 . naeslundii, and the other 

 essentially identical to those isolated from 

 lesions, which should be designated as .1. 

 israelii. They recommended that .1. naes- 

 lundii Thompson and Lovestedl be accepted 

 as the proper name for the rapidly growing 

 facultative type of Actinomyces. 



One may finally report the results of ;i 

 comparative study (Pine et el.. I960) of II 

 bovine strains of Actinomyces isolated from 

 typical cases of lumpy jaw and 15 human 

 -trains which had been identified as .1. 

 israelii and .1. naeslundii. Of the bovine 

 strains, one was a typical .1. israelii, whereas 



the remaining strains formed a homogeneous 

 group <>f fast growing, catalase-negative 

 diphtheroids which invariably failed to form 

 a true mycelium in vitro; they were thus 

 different from both .1. israelii and .1. naes- 

 lundii. The last 10 -trains comprised the 

 classical .1. bovis. They produced two kinds 



of colonies, depending on the medium: one 

 smooth colony, identical to that of Coryne- 

 bacterium acnes, and one rough similar to 

 that of A. israelii but with no mycelium. 

 They were anaerobes, forming acid from glu- 

 cose but none from xylose, raffinose, or man- 

 nitol; nitrates were not reduced and starch 

 was rapidly hydrolyzed. They were less path- 

 ogenic for animals than human strains, but 

 induced lesions in which actinomycotic my- 

 celial clumps were formed. The .1. israelii 

 strains were also anaerobes; they formed 

 acid from glucose, usually from xylose and 

 mannitol, and less often from raffinose; ni- 

 trates were sometimes reduced to nitrite-. 

 and starch was poorly hydrolyzed if at all. 

 A. naeslundii strains were facultative anaer- 

 obes and formed acid from glucose and 

 raffinose, but none from xylose or mannitol; 

 nitrates were reduced to nitrites and starch 

 was poorly hydrolyzed. Micromanipulative 

 methods for the study of microaerophilic 

 organisms have been examined by Erikson 

 (1954); the catalase reaction of .1. bovis was 

 reported by Suter ( L956). 



According to Emmons,* there is little 

 value in presenting as valid all the following 

 species until they h;ivel>een -I ndied carefully 



in pure culture. He suggested to accepl only 

 .1. bovis, A. israelii, .1. baudetii, and .1. 

 naeslundii. He went so far a.- to suggesl that 

 the staining reactions of .1. baudetii are 

 hardly sufficienl for its differentiation. 



Descriptions of Species of Actinomyces 



I. Actinomyces bovis Harz (Harz, ('. < >. 

 In Bollinger, < >. Centr. med. Wiss. L5: 185, 



Personal communical ion. 



