Estimation of peptidoglycan antibodies by an immunoperoxidase technique

An immunoperoxidase technique developed for the detection and measurement of anti-peptidoglycan antibodies is described. The technique is based on the Mancini single radial immunodiffusion test with the addition of a reaction step with peroxidase-labelled anti-immunoglobulins. The dark-brown colour produced by the enzyme and a H2O2-diaminobenzidine solution increased the sensitivity considerably. The test was found to be highly specific and valuable both for the screening of total amounts of anti-peptidoglycan antibodies in sera as well as in studies of antibody specificity.