Abstract
In order to study the typing and immunologic specificity of mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (mPa), 56 mPa were collected from the sputa of 27 patients with cystic fibrosis. mPa isolates were not typeable by agglutination with antisera to the seven Parke-Davis immunotypes (“protective antigens”). All mPa became non-mucoid (nmPa) by serial passage on agar. 47 of these 56 nmPa (84%) agglutinated with one or more of the antisera. For analysis of immunotype prevalence, only the first typeable isolate from each patient was studied. Only 5 (19%) were agglutinated by a single antiserum (4 type 1 and 1 type 2), but 20 strains agglutinated more strongly with one than the others. Of these 25 strains, there were 9 type 1, 1 type 2, 1 type 3, 8 type 4, 0 type 5, 6 type 6 and 0 type 7.
Since the immunotype antigen confers opsonic specificity, 16 of the strains were tested for opsonization with the homologous immunotype antisera. 15/16 nmPa were opsonized with antiserum (as) plus complement (c) or c alone and one was resistant. Of mPa variants of the same strains, 7/16 could not be opsonized by as + c; 4 were opsonized by c alone; and 5/16 were opsonized by as + c ( but 3 of these required a higher concentration of as than the corresponding nmPa). These data suggest that along with colonial morphologic transformation from mPa to nmPa, there is an exposure of the immunotype antigen to agglutination and opsonization by specific antiserum.
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Mitchell, M., Baltimore, R. 1210 IMMUNOTYPING AND OPSONIZATION OF MUCOID STRAINS OF PSEUDOMONAS. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 565 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-01216
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-01216