Pyridine Extraction of Nocardial Acid Fastness

摘要

Several strains of Mycobacterium and Nocardia were stained for acid fastness by using the method of Kinyoun. Duplicate, glutaraldehyde-fixed smears were extracted with fresh pyridine prior to staining. The results clearly demonstrated that both in vivo- and in vitro-grown Nocardia differed from Mycobacterium by becoming nonacid fast after extraction. This pyridine extraction of nocardial acid fastness should have diagnostic and taxonomic application.