No abstract

Summary. After exposure to cytotoxin or toxin A of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the ultrastructure of resting and phagocytosing human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) and of cells of P . aeruginosa strain 1348A was studied by transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electronmicroscopy, and by light microscopy (LM) after histochemical staining of cytoplasmic granules. Cytotoxin caused marked clumping and destruction of PMNL, pyknotic nuclear changes with bleb formation, and release of cytoplasmic granules; phagocytosis was markedly diminished. In contrast, after exposure to toxin A, PMNL phagocytosed actively, but their cytoplasmic pseudopodia were markedly irregular and their nuclei pyknotic. Colloidal-gold-labelled cytotoxin showed an affinity for the cytoplasmic membranes, nuclei and granules of PMNL. Cytotoxin had no apparent effect on cells of P . aeruginosa strain 1348A but there was polar separation of the cytoplasmic membrane in bacteria exposed to toxin A. Cytotoxin and toxin A appear to be important in the pathogenesis of infections caused by P. aeruginosa.