Mechanisms of resistance to Corynebacterium kutscheri in mice.

Involvement of the mononuclear phagocyte system in the mechanism of resistance to Corynebacterium kutscheri was studied in C57B1/6 and Swiss Lynch mice. A major difference between the two mouse strains was that the phagocytic cells of the livers of C57B1/6 mice destroyed the bacteria with much greater efficiency. There was no evidence of serum factors which might have led to this greater bacterial killing observed in the C57B1/6 mice, and in vivo phagocytosis of C. kutscheri was identical in both mouse strains. Resistance to C. kutscheri could be transferred with spleen and/or bone marrow cells from resistant (Swiss Lynch X C57B1/6) F1 mice to 650-rad irradiated susceptible Swiss Lynch mice. Nonspecific and acquired mechanisms of resistance to C. kutscheri are discussed.