Studies on the Antibacterial Activities of Antibiotics, Produced by Actinomyces, upon Saprophytic Acid-fast, Avian and Human Tubercle Bacilli

摘要

I verified the sensitivity and resistance of the tubercle bacilli against streptomycin by the slide cell culture method and also compared the effect of three actinomycal antibiotics, which were isolated by Aiso, Yanagisawa and Arai at this Putrifactive Microbiological Institute, on the acid-fast and tubercle bacilli, using the streptomycin prepared by Merck as a standard. The three actinomycal antibiotics were namely: streptomycin (Putrifactive Institute) produced by streptomyces griseus No. 8049, streptothricin produced by str. lavendulae No. 406 and flavomycin produced by str. roseoflavus Aiso et Arai. I. Antibacterial activity against acid-fast bacilli by the agar streak method. Test strains: 1 strain of mycobact. avium, 1 strain of mycobact. phrei and 13 strains of saprophytic acid-fast bacilli (isolated by the author from the soil according to the Gordon and Haganu27s method). 1. The antibacterial spectrum of each antibiotic was characteristic and from it, it has been found that the streptomycin of this Putrifactive Institute is of the same substance as that of the streptomycin of Merck, that streptothricin differs from them, and that flavomycin is a new antibiotic which is different from them all. Especially, flavomycin is an antibiotic which deserves notice, by the fact that it was able to inhibit the growth of bacilli at 50γ/cc, which could not be inhibited by streptomycin at 200γ/cc. 2. The antibacterial activity of each antibiotic increased as the pH of the applied media inclined to alkaline and the concentration necessary to inhibit growth increased as the determination-time is delayed. This coincides with the results of other authors. II. Comparison of the effects of each antibiotic by the slide cell culture method and verification of the sensitivity and resistance of the tubercle bacilli against streptomycin. Test strains: strain of mycobact. avium, Frankfurt strain of human tubercle bacilli, and 19 strains of human tubercle bacilli isolated from patients (sputum, urine, gastric washing and cavity-co