Summary
Following intrarenal injection of live group A streptococci into mice, morphologically intact organisms were demonstrated in the centers of renal abscesses by Gram's stain and reaction with fluorescein-isothiocyanate-conjugated antibody to group A C-carbohydrate. Immunofluorescent staining also revealed cell-wall carbohydrate persisting within a small number of macrophages in the peripheries and capsules of renal abscesses, as well as in chronic inflammatory foci in kidneys atrophied in the course of pyogenic nephritis. The carbohydrate demonstrated in this study has previously been identified as a group-specific streptococcal cell-wall polymer chemically linked to mucopeptide in the intact cell wall. No conversion of group A to group A-variant C-carbohydrate was noted. The rapid breakdown of the streptococci in pyogenic inflammatory foci was attributed to enzymatic activity of the intensive granulocytic inflammation prevalent in the initial stages of the infection.
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Schachenmayr, W., Heymer, B. & Haferkamp, O. Persisting streptococcal cell-wall components in murine chronic pyogenic nephritis. Virchows Arch. Abt. A Path. Anat. 355, 220–226 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00551058
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00551058