[Coxiella burnetii antigens--inducers of tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1].

The cultivation of mouse peritoneal macrophages in the presence of antigenic preparations obtained from C.burnetii was accompanied by the appearance of phagocytes and considerable amounts of tumor necrosis factor and interleukin 1 in the culture medium. The production of cytokines depended on the doses of preparations used as inducers.

Immunochemical and antigenic characterization of Coxiella burnetii strains isolated in Europe and Mongolia.

SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting and serological methods such as microimmunofluorescence (MIF) test and ELISA were used to compare protein and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) profiles and antigenicity of 12 Coxiella burnetii strains isolated mostly from ticks in Europe and Mongolia with three reference C. burnetii strains originating from USA, namely Nine Mile from tick, Priscilla from goat placenta and S from human heart valve. Among strains from Europe and Mongolia, no significant differences in protein and LPS profiles were observed, irrespective of their origin, i.

[The dynamics of the metabolic and functional activities of the immunocompetent cells in mice following immunization with different vaccines against Q fever].

It was shown that the immunization of mice by the chemical Q fever vaccine prepared with the use of the strain "Coxiella burnetii, Nine Mile", phase I did not markedly activate the oxidative metabolism of the peritoneal exudate cells and did not induce the non-specific cytotoxicity in them. However, it resulted in a significant suppression of the mitogen-induced proliferation of splenocytes on days 3-5. The immunization of mice by the combined (corpuscular/chemical) vaccine prepared with the use of the strain "Apodemus flavicollis-Luga", phase I induced a significant activation of the oxidative metabolism of the peritoneal exudate cells and the development of the nonspecific cytotoxicity in them, whereas no suppression of the mitogen-induced proliferation of splenocytes was observed.

[Characteristics of DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms of C. burnetti strains, isolated from areas of Russia].

The structural heterogeneity in Coxiella burnetii chromosomal DNA isolated in the European part of Russia from people, agricultural animals, and ticks has been studied. It is compared with the one of the European strains Henzerling and M44, the only genetically characterized strains up to date. The digestion of the total DNA by the restriction endonucleases BamHI, PstI, XhoI resulted in obtaining two types of restriction patterns.

Biological properties of chloroform/methanol extracts of Coxiella Burnetii.

Biological properties of antigens of whole cells of C. burnetii in phase I (WCI), their residue (CMR) and extract (CME) obtained by extraction of C. burnetti with chloroform/methanol mixture were subjected to a comparative study.