Cellular Reactions to Lipoid Fractions of the Tubercle Bacillus

In the repeated fractionation of the lipoid constituents of the tubercle bacillus, Anderson"' obtained a substance which he called phthiocerol. This material formed a part of the fraction called the "purified wax," and after separation and purification it was found to be an optically active higher alcohol with the formula C35H7303. At room temperature it is a white crystalline material with a melting point of 73-74° C. It is not soluble in water, but dissolves readily in warm alcohol, ether, or chloroform. The present report concerns the nature of the cellular response associated with the injection of this material. Like the other wax fractions, suspensions of phthiocerol in water or physiological saline were not stable. After long-continued grinding with water, saline, or with blood serum, the material did not remain suspended, but quickly precipitated on the surface of the container. Attempts to prepare colloidal suspensions in water by adding alcoholic solutions to water drop-by-drop resulted in the formation of a waxy curd, which on warming spread over the surface as an oily film and adhered to the sides of the beaker. Addition of larger quantities of alcohol threw the material out of solution and formed a flocculent precipitate, but subsequent attempts to remove the alcohol resulted in the formation of a white waxy curd. Recourse was then had to the somewhat unsatisfactory method of introducing the dry crystalline material directly into the peritoneal cavity of rabbits through an abdominal incision.