Abstract:

The mechanisms of biodegradation of microbial cell wall components is discussed. Employing Staphylococcus aureus as a model it is proposed that bacteriolysis following phagocytosis is mediated by the activation by leukocyte cationic proteins of the bacterial own autolytic wall enzymes. The role of lysozyme in bacteriolysis might not be due to its muramidase activity but to its cationic nature. A variety of sulfated polysaccharides, proteinases and oxygen radicals which might be present in inflamed tissues might inactivate the bacterial autolytic wall enzymes leading to the persistence of highly-phlogistic peptidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes within macrophages and to tissue damage.