Facilitated Uptake of Streptomycin by Kupffer Cells during Phagocytosis

Abstract

PHAGOCYTOSIS and intracellular digestion of bacteria have been investigated primarily with blood leucocyte or peritoneal macrophages derived from experimental animals. Many attempts have been made to isolate the intracellular events by the addition of bactericidal concentrations of streptomycin to the extracellular menstruum after the phagocytic cells have ingested the bacterial particles. The assumption made is that streptomycin by virtue of its relative impermeability exerts no bactericidal or bacteriostatic effect on those bacteria which are established intracellularly. Data concerning penetration of streptomycin into mammalian cells, however, are not consistent and seem to depend on the types of cell and the methods of assay for streptomycin which are used. The general conclusion is that the antibiotic is not concentrated intracellularly in quantities large enough to be bactericidal^1–3. A critical examination of the data, however, shows that such a conclusion may not be entirely warranted in all cases^4–7, and consequently the extent of bactericidal activity which streptomycin exhibits for intracellular bacteria remains conjectural.