STUDIES ON SEROLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA USING INDIRECT FLUORESCENT-ANTIBODY TECHNIQUE

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 237  (2-3) , 280-296
Abstract
An application mode of the indirect fluorescent antibody technique is described which allows the differentiation of soma and flagella of P. aeruginosa cells on the morphological and serological level simultaneously and the determination of the topic specificity of P. aeruginosa antisera. Antisera prepared by immunization of rabbits with formalinized semisolid agar cultures react with somatic and flagellar antigens (anti-OH-sera), while antisera made with heated cultures stain somatic antigens exclusively (anti-O-sera). Anti-OH-sera absorbed by heated cultures of the strain used for immunization lead to selective fluorescent staining of flagellar antigens (anti-H-sera). The reaction between somatic antigens and antisomatic antibodies is inhibited by coating substances which are removed by washing the cells. The masking effect is thermovariable and correlates with the viscosity of the cell suspension. The somatic antigens of washed cells are thermostabile, whereas the flagellar antigens are destroyed after heating at 60.degree. C. The strains representative of serogroups 0:1-0:12 of Habs show numerous uni- and bilateral relationships of the somatic antigens. However, group-specific reacting anti-O-sera are obtained by dilution or absorption of the overlapping antisomatic antibodies. The flagellae of the representative strains belong to 2 flagella types: 1 type shows a complex, the other a uniform antigen structure. They do not include all flagellar antigens existing in P. aeruginosa.