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A Sensitive Method for Detecting the Fermentation‐Inhibition Antibody to Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Author(s) -
Okazaki Norio,
Akema Riichiro,
Takizawa Kinjiro
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1991.tb02027.x
Subject(s) - mycoplasma pneumoniae , antibody , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , guinea pig , titer , horse , mycoplasma , immune system , antibody titer , immunology , globulin , antigen , complement system , medicine , endocrinology , pneumonia , paleontology
The fermentation‐inhibition (FI) test for Mycoplasma pneumoniae was improved by using a combination of guinea pig complement and gamma globulin‐depleted horse serum in place of unheated whole horse serum employed in the conventional assay system. As the test antigen for the new FI assay system, M, pneumoniae filtrated through a 3.0 μm membrane filter was used. Owing to the strong augmenting effect of guinea pig complement, the FI activity of rabbit immune serum was increased 32‐fold in the new system compared with the conventional system. Furthermore, IgM antibody, which is barely detectable by the conventional system, could easily be titrated by the new system. With this sensitive method, rapid rise of FI titer was clearly demonstrable in most children with acute M. pneumoniae infections, and a prevalence of FI or growth‐inhibitory antibody among healthy adults in Japan (82%) was revealed.