414 GLANDERS, ANTHRAX, PYOCYANEUS 
Products of Gvovfth. — Chemical.— The organism produces a relatively 
large amount of ammonia from proteins and protein derivatives/ and 
in milk.- Indol is found in many cultures of the organism, as well as 
hydrogen sulphide. Hydrocyanic acid is produced by the organism.^ 
Pigments.— Two pigments are produced by B. pyocyaneus: a 
water-soluble, green, fluorescent pigment similar n physical proper- 
ties to that found in cultures of other fluorescent bacteria; and a 
specific pigment, pyocyanin, which is insoluble in water but soluble 
in chloroform. Pyocyanin, to which the empirical formula C14H14NO2 
has been ascribed by Ledderhose,^ crystallizes from chloroform solu- 
tion in blue needles. It forms salts with acids, and exists as a leuko- 
base in cultures from which oxygen is excluded. The color changes 
to a brownish-red in old cultures. Liot^ has found that the presence 
of an ammoniacal salt is necessary for the production of pyocyanin. 
This may either be present in the culture medium, or it suffices if the 
organism can produce ammonium from the metabolism of the ingredi- 
ents of the medium. 
Enzymes.— One of the noteworthy products of B. pyocyaneus 
is a soluble proteolytic enzyme, a protease, which dissolves gelatin, 
casein, coagulated blood serum and fibrin.'' Breymann'^ showed that 
the bodies of the bacteria, freed from culture media, contained the 
same or a similar enzyme. Emmerich and Low^ isolated a proteolytic 
enzyme, called by them ■pyocyanase, which possessed the remarkable 
property of dissolving alien bacteria. This enzyme has been used 
therapeutically with some success. Whether pyocyanase is identical 
with the protease mentioned above has never been clearly determined. 
No diastatic enzymes have been detected in cultures of B. pyo- 
cyaneus.^ 
ro.n«5.— Wassermann^'' found that filtered cultures of B. pyocy- 
aneus or cultures killed with toluol would kill guinea-pigs when 
injected intraperitoneally in amounts of 0.2 to 0.5 cc. The organisms 
themselves were decidedly less toxic. The toxicity is not attributable 
to the specific pigment, pyocyanin, but to substances of unknown 
composition. 
Pathogenesis. — J/l'^///r//. — B. pyocyaneus is pathogenic for small 
laboratory animals, guinea-pigs being the most susceptible. A cubic 
centimeter or less of an actively growing broth culture introduced into 
the peritoneal cavity causes death within twenty-foiu- hours as a rule. 
1 Armaud and Charrin: Compt. rend. Acad. d. Sci., 1891, 112, 755, 1157. Kendall, 
Day and Walker: Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 1913, 35, 1243. 
2 Kendall, Day and Walker: Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., 1914, 36, 1948, 1963. 
3 Sherwood, Johnson and Radotinsky: Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 1926, 16, No. 2. 
« Deutsch. Ztschr. f. Chir., 1888, 28, 201. 
5 Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1923, 37, 234. 
« Jakowski: Ztschr. f. Hyg., 1893, 15, 474. Fermi: Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., 1891, 
10, 401. Kendall, Day and Walker: Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 1914, 36, 1966, and others. 
• Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., orig., 1902, 31, 481. 
8 Ztschr. f. Hyg., 1899, 31, 1. » Fermi: Loc. cit. 
" Ztschr. f. Hyg., 1896, 22, 263. 
