[Studies on serological classification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using the indirect fluorescent antibody technique...

An application mode of the indirect fluorescent antibody technique is described which allows the differentiation of soma and flagella of Ps. aeruginosa cells on the morphological and serological level simultaneously and the determination of the topic specificity of Ps. aeruginosa antisera. Antisera prepared by immunization of rabbits with formalinized semisolid agar cultures react with somatic and flagellar antigens (anti-OH-sera), while antisera made with heated cultures strain somatic antigens exclusively (anti-O-sera). Anti-OH-sera absorbed by heated cultures of the strain used for immunization lead to selective fluorescent staining of flagellar antigens (anti-H-sera). The reaction between somatic antigens and antisomatic antibodies is inhibited by coating substances which are removed by washing the cells. The masking effects of thermovariable and correlates with the viscosity of the cell suspension. The somatic antigens of washed cells are thermostabile, whereas the flagellar antigens are destroyed after heating at 60 degrees C. The strains representative of serogroups 0:1-0:12 of Habs show numerous uni- and bilateral relationships of the somatic antigens. However, group-specific reacting anti-O-sera are obtained by dilution of absorption of the overlapping antisomatic antibodies. The flagellae of the representative strains belong to two flagellae types: one type shows a complex, the other a uniform antigen structure. They do not include all flagellar antigens existing in Ps; aeruginosa;