[In vitro study of function of macrophages obtained from intact and immune animals with experimental rickettsial infections].

The studies carried out on Rickettsia prowazekii (strain Breinl) have shown that these organisms can proliferate in the culture of guinea pig peritoneal macrophages, and the character of their development in macrophages depends mainly on the infective dose. Macrophages obtained from immune animals seem to have undergone functional transformation, thus becoming capable of destroying the infective agent. The process of the destruction of Rickettsia was more active in the presence of guinea pig immune serum.