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Modification of Meningococcal Polysaccharide Antigens for Use in Passive Hemagglutination Tests¹

Department of Microbiology, Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharide antigens derived from the cell walls of several Gram-negative bacteria by any of the commonly employed procedures have little erythrocyte-sensitizing activity. Their adsorption onto the erythrocyte can be greatly enhanced, however, by treatment with heat or mild alkali (1). The nature of the chemical change brought about by these procedures is not known, but it has been correlated with the removal of some of the lipid (1) or of O-acetyl (2).

Passive hemagglutination tests have been performed with crude or purified antigens derived from Neisseria meningitidis using tanned (3, 4) or untanned erythrocytes (5–7), which presumably adsorb, respectively, protein (8) or carbohydrate moieties. Adsorption of N. meningitidis carbohydrate requires pretreatment of the antigen with mild alkali. The observations reported here indicate that hindrance of carbohydrate adsorption is eliminated by removal of the sialic acid.

The strains of N. meningitidis used were CL-4, L-1, and NOR 20, groups A, B and C, respectively.

Footnotes

¹ The opinions or assertions contained herein are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the Naval service at large.

² Present address: City of Long Beach, Department of Public Health, Long Beach, California 90806.

³ Present address: Department of Biology, University of California (San Diego), La Jolla, California 92036.