Abstract:

Introduction. Although a wealth of knowledge exists today on the biochemical pathways of biosynthesis, turnover and autolysis of bacterial cell wall components in vitro (1, 2), surprisingly very little is actually known about the mechanisms of biodegradation of microbial constituents in_vivo. One should differentiate between bactericidal and bacteriolytic processes induced by leukocytes since killed, but non-degraded, microbial cells may persist within macrophages to trigger chronic inflammation (3, 4). The present communication further supports our contention (5, 6) that the degradation of microbial cell wall components by leukocytes may be due to activation, by leukocytic cationic proteins, of autolytic wall enzymes rather than to the direct cleavage of the cells by lysosomal hydrolases. The modulation of bacteriolysis by anionic polyelectrolytes will be described and discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation and afequelae.