The Effect of Tuberculin and Cortisone Singly and in Combination on Explanted Tissues of Guinea Pigs,

Previous experiments have shown that the growth of ceils explanted from tuberculin-sensitive animals may be inhibited if tuberculin is added to the culture menstrnum (1). Tissue culture techniques also have been employed in studies of the mechanism of action of cortisone. The direct effect of this compound upon such diverse physiologic phenomena as heart muscle contraction (2) and renal tubular secretion (3) has been investigated in cultured cells. Leahy and Morgan (4) have tested the effect of cortisone upon the response to tuberoll lof cells from tuberculous guinea pigs, in an at tempt to determine the effect of this steroid on an allergic reaction in ~/tro. The initial purpose of the present work was to observe the effect of cortisone on the reaction produced by tuberculin in cultured cells from tuberculous guinea pigs, mice, and rabbits. Since, however, it soon became apparent that both tuberculin and cortisone had considerable toxicity for the cells of normal as well as infected or immunized as~imals (5), the experiments to be presented concern the response of explanted tissues from both normal and tuberculous animals to tuberculin and cortisone, singly as well as in combination. The findings show that the addition of cortisone to tuberculin failed to modify the injurious effect of the latter agent for sensitive tissues.