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Abstract
It has been reported that sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid, NANA) is an integral component of a group specific carbohydrate hapten (1) and a lipopolysaccharide (2) in Group C meningococci. Recent reports (3, 4) suggest the occurrence of sialic acid in carbohydrate antigens, presumably lipopolysaccharides (LPS), extracted from cells of serogroups A, B and C. Unpublished studies in this laboratory of LPS derived from Group B organisms have revealed that sialic acid, although present in whole cells, is not a component of their purified LPS. The positive reactions observed with hydrolysates of LPS in the thiobarbiturate (TBA) test (5) commonly used to estimate sialic acids could be attributed to the presence of keto-deoxyoctonic acid (KDO), which was identified by paper chromatography. To clarify this situation, 19 strains of meningococci were examined as to the distribution of sialic acid and KDO in them. Each was incubated on a shaker for 18 hr in liter volumes of Mueller-Hinton broth, treated with 0.5% formaldehyde, harvested by centrifugation, washed with saline and dried with acetone.

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