The Elements of Bacteriological Technique Part 87

2. Select two white mice, as nearly as possible of the same age, size, and weight.

3. Inoculate the first mouse, subcutaneously at the root of the tail, with an amount of cultivation equivalent to 1 per cent. of its body-weight.

4. Inoculate the second mouse intraperitoneally with a similar dose.

5. Observe carefully until death occurs, or until the lapse of twenty-eight days.

6. If the inoculated animals succ.u.mb, make complete post-mortem examination.

If death follows shortly after the injection of cultivations of bacteria, the inoculation experiments should be repeated two or three times. Then, if the organism under observation invariably exhibits pathogenic effects, steps should be taken to ascertain, if possible, the minimal lethal dose (_vide infra_) of the growth upon solid media for the frog or white mouse respectively. Other experimental animals--_e.

g._, the white rat, guinea-pig, and rabbit--should next be tested in a similar manner.

7. If the inoculated mice are unaffected, test the action of the organism in question upon white rats, guinea-pigs, rabbits, etc.

_Minimal Lethal Dose_ (_m. l. d._); If the purpose of the inoculation is to determine the minimal lethal dose, a slightly different procedure must be followed. For this and other exact experiments a special platinum loop is manufactured, some 2.5 mm. by 0.75 mm., with parallel sides, and calibrated by careful weighing, to determine approximately the amount of moist bacterial growth, the loop will hold when filled.

1. The cultivation must be prepared on a solid medium of the optimum reaction, incubated at the optimum temperature, and injected at the period of greatest activity and vigour, of the particular organism it is desired to test.

2. Arrange four sterile capsules in a row and label them I, II, III, and IV. Into the first deliver 10 c.c. sterile bouillon by means of a sterile graduated pipette; and into each of the remaining three, 9.9 c.c.

3. Remove one loopful of the bacterial growth from the surface of the medium in the culture tube, observing the usual precautions against contamination, and emulsify it evenly with the bouillon in the first capsule. Each cubic centimetre of the emulsion will now contain one-tenth of the organisms contained in the original loopful (written shortly 0.1 loop).

4. Remove 0.1 c.c. of the emulsion in the first capsule by means of a sterile graduated pipette and transfer it to the second capsule and mix thoroughly. Drop the infected pipette into a jar of lysol solution. This makes up the bulk of the fluid in the second capsule to 10 c.c., and therefore every cubic centimetre of bouillon in capsule II contains 0.001 loop.

5. Similarly, 0.1 c.c. of the mixture is transferred from capsule II to capsule III (1 c.c. of bouillon in capsule III contains 0.00001 loop), and then from capsule III to capsule IV (1 c.c. of bouillon in capsule IV contains 0.0000001 loop).

The dilutions thus prepared may be summarised in a table;

Capsule I = 1 loopful + 10 c.c. water [.'.] 1 c.c.=0.1 loop.

Capsule II = 0.1 c.c. capsule I + 9.9 c.c. water [.'.] 1 c.c.=0.001 loop.

Capsule III = 0.1 c.c. capsule II + 9.9 c.c. water [.'.] 1 c.c.=0.00001 loop.

Capsule IV = 0.1 c.c. capsule III + 9.9 c.c. water [.'.] 1 c.c. = 0.0000001 loop.

6. With sterile graduated pipettes remove the necessary quant.i.ty of bouillon corresponding to the various divisors of ten of the loop from the respective capsules, and transfer each "dose" to a separate sterile capsule and label; and to such doses as are small in bulk, add the necessary quant.i.ty of sterile bouillon to make up to 1 c.c.

7. Multiples of the loop are prepared by emulsifying 1, 2, 5, or 10 loops each with 1 c.c. sterile bouillon in separate sterile capsules.

8. Inoculate a series of animals with these measured doses, filling the syringe first from that capsule containing the smallest dose, then from the capsule containing the next smallest, and so on. If care is taken, it will not be found necessary to sterilise the syringe during the series of inoculations.

9. Plant tubes of gelatine or agar, liquefied by heat, from each of the higher dilutions, say from 0.0000001 loop to 0.01 loop; pour plates and incubate. When growth is visible enumerate the number of organisms present in each, average up and calculate the number of bacteria present in one loopful of the inoculum.

10. The smallest dose which causes the infection and death of the inoculated animal is noted as the minimal lethal dose.

_Toxins._--

Prepare flask cultivations of the organism under observation in glucose formate broth, and incubate for fourteen days under optimum conditions.

(a) Intracellular or Insoluble Toxins:

1. Heat the fluid culture in a water-bath at 60 C. for thirty minutes.

(The resulting sterile, turbid fluid is often spoken of as "killed"

culture,)

2. Inoculate a tube of sterile bouillon with a similar quant.i.ty, and incubate under optimum conditions. This "control" then serves to demonstrate the freedom of the toxin from living bacteria.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 160.--Apparatus arrange for toxin filtration.]

3. Inject intraveneously that amount of the cultivation corresponding to 1 per cent. of the body-weight of the selected animal, usually one of the small rodents.

4. Observe during life or until the completion of twenty-eight days, and in the event of death occurring during that period, make a complete post-mortem examination.

5. Repeat the experiment at least once. In the event of a positive result estimate the minimal lethal dose of "killed" culture for each of the species of animals experimented upon.

(b) Extracellular or Soluble Toxins:

1. Filter the cultivation through a porcelain filter candle (Berkefeld) into a sterile filter flask, arranging the apparatus as in the accompanying figure (Fig. 160).

2. Inoculate mice, rats, guinea-pigs, and rabbits subcutaneously with that quant.i.ty of toxin corresponding to 1 per cent. of the body-weight of each respectively, and observe, if necessary, until the completion of one month.

3. Inoculate a "control" tube of bouillon with a similar quant.i.ty and incubate, to determine the freedom of the filtered toxin from living bacteria.

4. In the event of a fatal termination make complete and careful post-mortem examinations.

5. Repeat the experiments and, if the results are positive, ascertain the minimal lethal dose of toxin for each of the susceptible animals.

The estimation of the _m. l. d._ of a toxin is carried out on lines similar to those laid down for living bacteria (_vide_ page 316) merely subst.i.tuting 1 c.c. of toxin as the unit in place of the unit "loopful"

of living culture.

It frequently happens, during the course of casual investigations that a bouillon-tube culture is available for a toxin test whilst a flask cultivation is not. In such cases, Martin's small filter candle and tube (Fig. 161) specially designed for the filtration of small quant.i.ties of fluid, is invaluable. This consists of a narrow filter flask just large enough to accommodate an ordinary 18 2 cm. test-tube. The mouth of the tubular Chamberland candle 15 1.5 cm. is closed by a perforated rubber cork into which fits the end of the stem of a thistle headed funnel, whilst immediately below the b.u.t.t of the funnel is situated a rubber cork to close the mouth of the filter flask. When the apparatus is fixed in position and connected to an exhaust pump, the cultivation is poured into the head of the funnel and owing to the relatively large filtering surface the germ free filtrate is rapidly drawn through into the test-tube receiver.

~Raising the Virulence of an Organism.~--If it is desired to raise or "exalt" the virulence of a feebly pathogenic organism, special methods of inoculation are necessary, carefully adjusted to the exigencies of each individual case. Among the most important are the following:

1. _Pa.s.sage of Virus._--The inoculation of pure cultivations of the organism into highly susceptible animals, and pa.s.sing it as rapidly as possible from animal to animal, always selecting that method of inoculation-e. g., intraperitoneal--which places the organism under the most favorable conditions for its growth and multiplication.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 161--Martin's filtering apparatus for small quant.i.ties of fluid.]

2. _Virus Plus Virulent Organisms._--The inoculation of pure cultivations of the organism together with pure cultivations of some other microbe which in itself is sufficiently virulent to ensure the death of the experimental animal, either into the same situation or into some other part of the body. By this a.s.sociation the organism of low virulence will frequently acquire a higher degree of virulence, which may be still further raised by means of "pa.s.sages" (_vide supra_).

3. _Virus Plus Toxins._--The inoculation of pure cultivations of the organism into some selected situation, together with the subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, or intravenous injection of a toxin--e. g., one of those elaborated by the proteus group--either simultaneously with, before, or immediately after, the injection of the feeble virus. By this means the natural resistance of the animal is lowered, and the organism inoculated is enabled to multiply and produce its pathogenic effect, its virulence being subsequently exalted by means of "pa.s.sages."

~Attenuating the Virulence of an Organism.~--Attenuating or lowering the virulence of a pathogenic microbe is usually attained with much less difficulty than the exaltation of its virulence, and is generally effected by varying the environment of the cultivations, as for example:

1. Cultivating in such media as are unsuitable by reason of their (a) composition or (b) reaction.

2. Cultivating in suitable media, but at an unsuitable temperature.

3. Cultivating in suitable media, but in an unsuitable atmosphere.

4. Cultivation in suitable media, but under unfavorable conditions as to light, motion, etc.