Study of Nutritional Requirements of Trichophyton Tonsurans

TRICHOPHYTON tonsurans has assumed importance*because of the increasing frequency of scalp infections with this endothrix organism. The literature discloses little information on its metabolism since the report in 1887 by Verujski3on the influences of acidity, alkalinity, various hydrocarbons, and urea on its growth. Oyama,4cited by Robbins and Kavanagh,5found that thiamine had no effect on the fungus, but that rice polishings were stimulatory. Burkholder and Moyer6stated that T. tonsurans (T. sulfureum) required thiamine but was not stimulated by the addition of liver or peptone. Drouhet and Mariat7recently reported that their strains of T. tonsurans required the pyrimidine fraction of thiamine, and that organic, especially amino, nitrogen was necessary for satisfactory growth. The purpose of this study was to obtain information regarding the vitamin, nitrogen, and carbon requirements for T. tonsurans. METHOD Fifteen strains were investigated (Table 1). One strain