Relationship of bacterial growth phase to killing of Listeria monocytogenes by oxidative agents generated by neutrophils and enzyme systems.

Listeria monocytogenes, a gram-positive motile bacterium which can cause severe bacterial infection in humans, is considered to be pathogenic by virtue of its ability to resist intracellular killing. Since the mechanism of intracellular survival is poorly understood, we assessed the sensitivity of L. monocytogenes to several potent antibacterial products. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) produced extracellular antibacterial products which were inhibited completely by catalase, suggesting a role for oxidative agents in this process. L. monocytogenes in logarithmic (log) growth phase resisted PMA-stimulated PMN extracellular products significantly more than L. monocytogenes in stationary (stat) growth phase or Escherichia coli (three strains) in either phase of growth. The role of oxidative agents was studied further by using xanthine oxidase-xanthine, glucose oxidase-glucose, and myeloperoxidase enzyme systems to generate hydroxyl radical (.OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hypochlorous acid (OCl-), respectively. L. monocytogenes in log phase resisted the antibacterial products of these enzyme systems under conditions which produced superoxide (O2-) and H2O2 at concentrations similar to those produced extracellularly by PMA-stimulated PMNs, while stat-growth-phase L. monocytogenes and E. coli in either phase of growth were susceptible. Antibacterial activity could be blocked or inhibited by exogenous catalase (for all oxygen radical-generating systems), mannitol, or desferoxamine (for xanthine oxidase-xanthine) and alanine (for myeloperoxidase), suggesting that .OH and OCl- were responsible for this activity. Log-phase L. monocytogenes had 2.5-fold higher bacteria-associated catalase activity, as compared with stat-phase L. monocytogenes. These experiments, therefore, suggest that log-phase L. monocytogenes resists oxidative antibacterial agents by producing sufficient catalase to inactivate these products. This may contribute to the ability of L. monocytogenes to survive intracellularly.