Attempts to Release Absorbed Bacteriophage from Blood by Saponin and Glycerin *

The whole blood, as well as the serum, of rabbits, guinea-pigs, mice, and man possess the power of inactivating bacteriophage, particularly that group which lyses staphylococci. Experiment affords conclusive proof that the cellular elements in whole blood responsible for the absorption of staphylococcus phage are, in the main, the white blood cells (Applebaum and MacNeal,8 Rakieten"9); red blood cells washed free of plasma have little or no phage-inactivating power. In our experience, staphylococcus phage suspensions that have been absorbed by white blood cells are so diminished in corpuscular count that they are rarely able to effect complete lysis of susceptible bacteria suspended in broth. On the other hand, those corpuscles that have not been inactivated can, and do, produce typical plaques. Furthermore, when white blood cells that have absorbed phage are allowed to autolyze no significant increase in phage corpuscular count has been observed. The viruses of rinderpest and of vaccinia are, to a large extent, concentrated in the white blood cells under certain experimental conditions (Shein,3 Daubney,7 Douglas and Smith8), but under these conditions the virus particles remain active. Recently the report of Elliott,9 dealing with the apparently favoring effect of saponin in blood culture media, prompted us to determine whether the addition of this agent to whole blood, serum, or washed cells (both erythrocytes and leukocytes) would diminish their phage-absorbing activity, and whether phage would be freed from whole blood by the addition of saponin. Saponin, an extremely powerful hemolytic agent, injures, and finally destroys, the white blood cells as well. This glucoside has been studied with regard to its effect on pneumococci (Klein and Stone"2), the tuberde bacillus (Monaldi"5), leptospira (Zinsser and Bayne-Jones24), and antitoxins (Scott and Glaister22). A number of investigators have also reported on the effect of saponin on viruses,-that of fowl pest is destroyed by a one per cent solution