TREPONEMA PALLIDUM 



125 



ftraf/in 



* oil 



Solid 



of i6//, to 20 //, have been recorded. The body has from eight to ten 

 spiral turns and forms a tapering process at each end (fig. 56). The 

 organism is most difficult to stain, and its internal structure is little 

 known. It is possibly like that of Spirochceta duttoni or S. balbianii, 

 as the " granule shedding " observed by Balfour is strongly suggestive 

 of the formation of resistant bodies by those spirochaetes. Hoffmann 



(1912) has seen the formation of spores in T. pallidum. 

 The Treponemata occur in the primary 



and secondary sores, but are difficult to 

 find in the tertiary eruptions of syphilis. 

 Noguchi and Moore (1913) and Mott 1 



(1913) have demonstrated T. pallidum in 

 the brain in cases of general paralysis of 

 the insane. Marie and Levaditi (1914), 

 however, consider that the treponeme 

 found in the brain in such cases is 

 different from T. pallidum. 



CULTIVATION of T. pallidum. This has 

 been accomplished successfully by No- 

 guchi, 2 using a modification of his 

 method for spirochaete cultivation, for 

 T. pallidum is much more difficult to 

 grow than spirochaetes, being a strict 

 anaerobe. 



The apparatus consists of two glass 

 tubes, the upper being connected to the 

 lower by a narrower tube passing through 

 a rubber cork (fig. 57). Both tubes are 

 carefully sterilized. 



A piece of fresh, sterile rabbit's kidney 

 is placed in the lower tube, which fs 

 filled with ascitic fluid, or ascitic fluid 

 and bouillon mixture. The tube is in- 

 oculated with syphilitic material and 

 corked by inserting the upper tube. In the bottom of the upper tube 

 a piece of sterile rabbit's kidney is placed and syphilitic material 

 poured over it. A mixture of one part ascitic fluid and two parts of 

 slightly alkaline agar is then poured over the tissue and allowed to 

 solidify. When solid, a layer of sterile paraffin oil is poured on top 

 of it, and the top plugged with cotton wool (fig. 57). The whole is then 

 incubated at 37 C. for two or three weeks. The tissue removes traces 

 of oxygen from the lower levels of the medium and also probably 



1 Brit. Med. [ourn., Nov. 15, 1913. p. 1,271. 



2 Journ. Exptl. Med., xv, p. 90; xvi, p. 21 1. 



Fluid 

 *- medium 



FIG. 57. Diagram of apparatus 

 for cultivation of Treponema palli- 

 diim by Noguchi's method. (After 

 Noguchi.) 



