ISOLATION OF ANTIGENIC VARIANTS FROM LEPTOSPIRAS GROWN-INVITRO AND FROM HEART BLOOD OF GUINEA-PIGS INOCULATED WITH A CLONIZED STRAIN OF LEPTOSPIRA

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 245  (3) , 345-355
Abstract
A cloned culture of L. interrogans serovar copenhageni strain Shibaura (Cl-Shibaura) was inoculated into guinea pigs. The heart blood of the guinea pigs, obtained at the febrile stage and inoculated onto a solid serum medium containing homologous immune serum, produced large and small colonies. Serological examinations revealed that the large colonies were mainly antigenic variants; small colonies were mostly the parent. Antigenic variants accounted for 16.4% of all colonies from the blood of guinea pigs infected with Cl-Shibaura and for 1.2% of all colonies from the culture of Cl-Shibaura in normal serum medium. Antigenic variants were also isolated in vitro from the culture of 2 other serovars. The fact that the frequency of antigenic variants of leptospiras was higher in vivo than in vitro is discussed.