Effect of surface active agents on endosporulation of Coccidioides immitis in a chemically defined medium.

The chief obstacles to the study of the parasitic or in vivo form (spherule) of Coccidioides immitis grown in synthetic media have been: (1) separating spherules from hyphae, (2) obtaining rupture of the majority of the spherules, and (3) failure of the endospores to separate from the spherule matrix. Growth of spherules in a chemically defined liquid medium composed of glucose, ammo(liberated endospores) in a defined medium, and the ability to perpetuate the parasitic reproductive cycle (endospore -, spherule -+ endospore) through several serial transfers. Representative types of anionic, cationic, and nonionic surface active agents were investigated to determine their stimulatory effect on spherulation, their effect on the surface of the spherule