Further observations on the serological response to experimental Salmonella typhimurium in chickens measured by ELISA

An indirect ELISA developed for the serological detection of Salmonella typhimurium in chickens using lipopolysaccharide as detecting antigen has been evaluated further in experimental infections. Following oral infection of 24-week-old laying hens with an invasive strain of S. typhimurium, high titres of specific circulating IgG were induced which were maintained for 20 weeks. Similar IgG titres were found in egg yolk. When 4-day-old chickens were infected high antibody titres persisted for 45 weeks. Chickens inoculated orally or intramuscularly with different numbers of S. typhimurium organisms showed graded serum IgG responses to LPS. The IgG titres in experimentally infected in-bred lines of chickens which showed greater genetic resistance to salmonella infection were significantly lower than those found in more susceptible lines. Oral and intramuscular infection with 18 different types of enterobacteria, including avian pathogenic E. coli, Citrobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp. and citrobacter-like organisms possessing some salmonella LPS (none possessed the O-4 antigen) and flagella antigens, did not induce S. typhimurium LPS-specific IgG responses. Chickens infected orally with rough or non-flagellate mutants of S. typhimurium did not induce high titres of LPS or flagella-specific IgG respectively. Sera obtained from S. typhimurium-infected chickens showed much higher titres against S. typhimurium LPS than with those antigens from other serotypes, including S. enteritidis.