CULTURE AND BIOLOGICAL-ACTIVITY OF PROPIONIBACTERIUM-ACNES

Administration of killed Propionibacterium acnes to experimental anima ls leads to the development of hypersensitivity to the lethal and cyto kine-inducing effects of endotoxin. This sensitizing property of P. ac nes is not always expressed by different bacterial preparations. Its e xpression depends very much on the conditions employed for the cultiva tion of this microorganism. The present study investigates which cultu ring Conditions result in II acnes preparations with optimal sensitizi ng properties. The composition of the medium, the culturing time and t emperature as well as the type of cultivation (in minifermentor or sta tionary culture) were all varied for this purpose. The resulting bacte rial preparations were killed at 65 degrees C for 1 h and tested for s ensitizing activity. The results show that stationary cultures of P. a cnes grown at 37 degrees C for 4 to 5 days in the appropriate medium p roduce biologically active preparations with satisfactory sensitizing activity.