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THE STEADY STATE IN CELLULAR IMMUNITY
Author(s) -
Gray DF,
Cheers Christina
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1967.39
Subject(s) - bacilli , steady state (chemistry) , tuberculosis , virulence , immunity , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , immunology , biology , bacteria , medicine , chemistry , pathology , genetics , gene
Summary The steady state of the immune phase of murine pulmonary tuberculosis follows a short bacteriolytic phase in which most, but never all, of the tubercle bacilli are destroyed. The results are recorded here of interference with the steady state. Whether lung bacilli were deliberately decreased by chemotherapy, or increased by super‐infection, with or without prior reduction by chemotherapy, the steady state was restored within a few weeks of ending interference. Country to the implications of Koch's phenomenon, the superinfecting strain was regularly established and also persisted in the restored steady state. The steady state in murine tuberculosis is, therefore, probably not due to a simple feedback inhibition nor to numerical depletion or paralysis of immuno‐competent cell production; nor is it likely to be the result of inaccessibility of bacilli within caseous tissue. It appears to be a dynamic state, delicately controlling multiplication and death of virulent bacilli over long periods, for which the term ‘ immunological complaisance ” is now proposed. No explanation of the mechanisms involved is offered at this stage.