Effects ofoxygen andnitrogen on thecharacter of T.pallidum insubcutaneous chambers inmice

Studies onthephysiology ofTreponema pallidum (Tp) havebeenlimited bytheinability ofresearchers to cultivate theorganism invitro. Formanyyears microbiologists haveconsidered virulent Tptobe anaerobic (Nelson andSteinman, 1948;Turnerand Hollander, 1957); however, CoxandBarber(1974) advanced evidence tosupport theinvitro utilization ofoxygen byTpextracted fromrabbit testicles. The investigators suggested thatthepreviously observed inactivation ofTpbyoxygen wasduetotheaccumulationofoxidized metabolic products andnottothe presence ofoxygen. Inthis study wedetermined the effects ofoxygenandnitrogen insubcutaneous chambers (Arko,1973)inwhichthemetabolic products fromTp wouldperhaps bebuffered or removedbythetissue ofthehostanimal. We also repeated theCoxandBarber(1974) methodof preparing Tpextracts fromrabbit testicles toassess theamountofrabbit tissue inthese preparations as this tissue mayhaveanimportant influence onany attempts to measureoxygenutilization by T. pallidum.