[Study of the functional activity of the macrophages of animals immunized with staphylococcal alpha-anatoxin]

A study was made by histochemical methods of the activity of the enzymatic systems of macrophages from normal rabbits and those immunized with staphylococcus alpha-toxoid per se and infected with the strains of staphylococcus--producers of alpha-toxin or leukocydin. Immunization of rabbits was accompanied by a reduction in macrophages of the activity of the group of lysosomal enzymes and by an increase in the activity of the redox enzymes. In infection of "immune" macrophages with the living culture of the alpha-toxigenic strains the mentioned changes were more pronounced; no such changes were found after the infection with the leukocydin-active strain. The data obtained suggested that the lysosomal enzymes played a definite role in the process of phagocytosis.