8i4 
Bacteria  and  Vitamins. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<•    December,  1919. 
added  in  the  case  of  the  diphtheria  organism  by  Davis  and  Ferry4  of 
Detroit.  They  found  that  it  could  not  be  cultivated  in  synthetic 
mediums  composed  of  amino-acids  and  mineral  salts  adjusted  to  the 
optimal  hydrogen-ion  concentration.  Addition  of  the  extractives 
creatin  and  creatinin,  and  the  purin  bases  xanthin  and  hypoxanthin, 
was  to  no  advantage.  Typical  luxuriant  growth  of  Bacterium  diph- 
theric? was  obtained  in  a  mixture  of  99.5  per  cent,  of  synthetic  me- 
dium and  only  0.5  per  cent,  of  bouillon.  Production  of  active  toxin, 
however,  required  the  presence  of  10  per  cent,  bouillon.  "  Peptone  " 
permitted  only  deficient  growrth  and  toxin  formation.  Davis  and 
Ferry  believe  that  such  observations  suggest  a  vitamin  requirement, 
furnished  in  these  cases  by  the  beef  infusion,  not  only  for  the  lux- 
uriant growth  of  the  diphtheria  bacillus  but  also  particularly  for 
strong  toxin  production.  Incidentally,  they  believe  that  the  results 
obtained  favor  the  view  that  diphtheria  toxin  is  not  a  synthetic 
product  but  rather  "  a  catabolic  substance  elaborated  by  Bacterium 
diphtherice  only  in  the  presence  of  certain  amino-acids  and  accessory 
factors,  the  latter  probably  of  a  vitamin  character." 
Kligler3  has  recently  noted,  in  studies  made  at  the  Rockefeller 
Institute  for  Medical  Research,  that  the  growth  of  a  large  number 
of  pathogenic  bacteria,  including  the  streptococcus,  pneumococcus 
and  meningococcus,  is  favorably  influenced  by  the  addition  of  small 
amounts  of  tissue  extracts.  Beef  heart,  rabbit  and  cat  tissues,  and 
human  nasal  secretions  contain  substances  favorable  to  the  growth 
of  the  organisms  tested.  The  mucosa  of  different  organs,  spleen, 
liver  and  kidney,  are  relatively  rich  in  these  substances,  while  muscle 
is  relatively  poor.  The  favorable  effect  of  the  extracts  is  mani- 
fested by  an  enhancement  of  growth  and  a  reduction  of  lag.  Neither 
the  extracts  alone  nor  the  culture  medium  alone  was  capable  of  sup- 
porting bacterial  growth  suitably.  Kligler  interprets  his  results  as 
evidence  that  the  facilitating  substances  belong  to  the  category  of 
the  vitamins ;  and  since  ether  extracts  are  without  the  potency  re- 
ferred to,  the  conclusion  is  further  offered  that  the  vitamins  favor- 
able for  bacterial  development  belong  to  the  water-soluble  rather 
than  to  the  fat-soluble  type. 
4  Davis,  L.,  and  Ferry,  N.  S. :  "  Studies  on  Diphtheria  Toxin,  II,  The 
Role  of  the  Amino-Acids  in  the  Metabolism  of  Bacterium  Diphtherise,"  /. 
Bacterioi,  4:  217  (May),  1919. 
5  Kligler,  T.  J. :  "  Growth  Accessory  Substances  for  Pathogenic  Bacteria 
in  Animal  Tissues,"  /.  Exper.  M.,  30:  31  (July),  1912. 
