† Requests for offprints should be sent to Professor V. O. Rotimi, Medical Microbiology and Parasitology Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, P.M.B. 12003, Lagos, Nigeria.
The cytotoxic activities of culture supernates, crude cell extracts and cell-wall materials of Bacteroides gingivalis were investigated in vitro. Each component was cytotoxic to Vero cells and, to a lesser extent, Wi 38 cells. The cytotoxic agents had similar effects on the cell lines to butyric acid, propionic acid and a partially-purified trypsin-like protein extracted from a clinical isolate of B. gingivalis; the effects were eliminated by heat. Cytotoxic materials obtained from young cultures were more susceptible to heat than those from older cultures. The heat-labile substance inside and outside the bacterial cell in young cultures of B. gingivalis may contribute to its overall cytotoxic activity.
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