INFLUENCE OF MILD ACID-HYDROLYSIS ON ANTIGENIC PROPERTIES OF PHASE-I COXIELLA-BURNETII

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 22  (4) , 302-308
Abstract
Mild acid hydrolysis of phase I C. burnetii cells gradually cleaved off polysaccharide chains, which contain determinants of antigen 1 [lipopolysaccharide], thus unmasking determinants of the diagnostically important antigen 2. This artificial phase I to phase II conversion was reflected by changed serological activity in the complement-fixation (CF) test and by changed nonspecific phagocytosis [by guinea pig macrophages]. The product of mild acid hydrolysis can serve as a complex diagnostic preparation, because it reacts in the CF test with antibodies directed to both C. burnetii antigens.