Study of adjuvant and mitogenic activities of bacterial peptidoglycans with different structures.

The adjuvant and mitogenic properties of bacterial peptidoglycans (PG) of different structures have been compared. The PG from Bacillus megaterium and Staphylococcus aureus were adjuvant-active in the guinea-pig, and mitogenic for guinea-pig and mouse lymphocytes. On the other hand the PG from Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Corynebacterium poinsettiae exerted neither adjuvant nor mitogenic activities. Mitogenic PG were selective B mitogens. They were mitogenic for splenocytes from Nude mice and inactive towards T-cell-enriched populations. They were mitogenic in both germ-free mice and in the C3H/HeJ strain which is unresponsive to lipopolysaccharide.