[Reactivity to bacterial peptidoglycans in a phagocytosis system. 1. The range of immunological specificity of...

The antigenic features of S. aureus peptidoglycan (PG) were studied in the reaction of stimulation of oxygen-dependent neutrophil metabolism, mediated by the IgG opsonins of normal human serum. The study was carried out at different taxonomic levels: the species (S. aureus), the genus (Staphylococcus), the family (Micrococcaceae), as well as in relation to remote taxons (organisms belonging to the families Streptococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Neisseriaceae, to the genus Corynebacterium). All S. aureus strains were identical with respect to the specificity of their PG, essentially differing from other bacteria in this regard. After the removal of antibodies to different PG the effectiveness of PG opsonization decreased by 10.4-44.7%. Such decrease was most pronounced in experiments with the PG of streptococci (S. pyogenes, S. faecalis, S. salivarius) and Micrococcus luteus.