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In Vivo Behavior of Revertants from Staphylococcus aureus L-Phase Variants Compared with the Parent Strain

Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267

ABSTRACT

The in vivo behavior of revertants of Staphylococcus aureus L-phase variants were studied in mice. The Giorgio strain of S. aureus was induced into L-phase variants by methicillin. After 13 serial passages in methicillin agar and six passages in antibiotic-free agar, reversion occurred. Six revertants, all phage untypable, coagulase negative, and mannitol negative, were inoculated intravenously into Swiss albino mice in comparison with the parent strain. Inoculation of 10⁸ colony-forming units resulted in 38% mortality at 28 days for the Giorgio group and 0 to 2% for the revertants. The geometric mean titer of staphylococci in the kidneys was 3.5 x 10⁵ for the Giorgio group and 0.5 x 10⁰ to 1.0 x 10² for the revertants. Serial colony counts of blood, lungs, spleen, liver, and kidneys in mice inoculated with 10⁷ colony-forming units showed faster clearance and failure of the revertant to colonize the kidneys. It is concluded that the in vivo behavior of the L-phase revertants was vastly different from that of the parent Giorgio strain.