The importance of different components of normal human serum and lysozyme in the rapid immobilisation of purified Treponema pallidum, Nichols strain.

Objectives: To study the role of different components in normal human serum and the role of lysozyme in rapid immobilisation of Percoll purified T pallidum (Nichols).

Materials And Methods: The immobilisation of Percoll purified T pallidum was studied after pre-incubations with different serum fractions (Fr) of normal human serum (Fr 1, containing IgM; Fr 2, containing IgG and a low level of haemolytic complement, and Fr 1 (abs), depleted of IgG). A guinea-pig serum pool was used as a complement source in the immobilisation experiments.

The influence of different sera on the in vitro immobilisation of Percoll purified Treponema pallidum, Nichols strain.

Objectives: Investigation of sera, especially rabbit serum, in preventing in vitro immobilisation of Percoll purified T. pallidum.

Materials And Methods: The immobilisation of Percoll purified T.

Rapid in vitro immobilisation of purified Treponema pallidum (Nichols strain), and protection by extraction fluids from rabbit testes.

The use of Percoll-purified treponemes in an assay similar to the Treponema pallidum Immobilisation test demonstrated that immobilisation of purified treponemes by seronegative normal human serum proceeded at a much higher rate than that of unpurified treponemes. This suggests that the removal of the testicular extract makes the treponemes more vulnerable to this action. A preincubation of the purified treponemes with the testicular extract from infected or uninfected testes delayed their rate of immobilisation to that demonstrated by the unpurified treponemes.

The inaccessibility of the outer membrane of adherent Treponema pallidum (Nichols strain) to anti-treponemal antibodies, a possible role of serum proteins.

Fresh and aged adherent T pallidum were used to study the accessibility of their outer membrane to antibodies by means of an indirect immunofluorescent technique. The integrity of the outer membrane was demonstrated by the non-reactivity with a monoclonal antibody directed against the axial filaments. Using the sera from patients with sero-positive primary and secondary syphilis no binding of IgG and IgM antibodies was observed.

Transfusion syphilis, survival of Treponema pallidum in donor blood. I. Report of an orientating study.

The influence of storage at 4 degrees C on the survival of Treponema pallidum in donor blood, artificially infected with treponemes of the virulent Nichols strain was studied. Rabbits were inoculated in each testis with 0.5 ml of the blood-treponeme mixture, containing 5 X 10(5) microorganisms/ml, which was stored for up to 336 h.

Antigenic structure of Treponema pallidum, Nichols strain. II. Extraction of a polysaccharide antigen with "strain-specific" serological activity.

An ultracentrifugally homogeneous heat-stable polysaccharide preparation free from serologically reactive rabbit testicular tissue antigen, including cardiolipin, was extracted from the Nichols strain of Treponema pallidum, and found to react by complement-fixation with homologous rabbit sera but not with human syphilitic sera. In addition, the reactive "strain-specific" component was found to be distinct from a second reactive component within the preparation related to an antigen of T. reiteri.