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 Verujski3 on the influences of acidity, alkalinity, various hydrocarbons, and urea on its growth. Oyama,4 cited by Robbins and Kavanagh,5 found that thiamine had no effect on the fungus, but that rice polishings were stimulatory. Burkholder and
Moyer6 stated that T. tonsurans (T. sulfureum) required thiamine but was not stimulated by the addition of liver or peptone. Drouhet and Mariat7 recently 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