Group A streptococci were treated with various enzymatic and chemical agents in an attempt to dissociate the type-specific M protein from intact surface "fimbriae." Mild peptic digestion at pH 5.8, which was previously shown to extract serologically active M antigen from intact streptococci had little visible effect on the fimbriae even though virtually all of the M protein was removed as demon...

The cell wall of a bacterium is generally understood, at the cytological level, to be a rigid outer layer which gives the organism its characteristic size and shape and does not include the extracellular slime or capsule so often encountered among bacterial species. The “microcapsule,” a term of convenience for immunologically but not morphologically demonstrable properties of the bacterial sur...

In this study the efficacy of the combination of glycerol (GLY) and ethylene glycol (EG) as cryoprotectants in a vitrification method developed for direct embryo transfer was evaluated by in vitro development of in vitro fertilized (IVF) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos after vitrification. The IVF and SCNT blastocysts were vitrified in either 40% GLY, 30% GLY + 10% EG, or 20% G...

A teichoic acid (TA)-like polysaccharide in Enterococcus faecalis has previously been shown to induce opsonic antibodies that protect against bacteremia after active and passive immunization. Here we present new data providing a corrected structure of the antigen and the epitope against which the opsonic antibodies are directed. Capsular polysaccharide isolated from E. faecalis strain 12030 by ...

Pneumococcal disease is endemic all over the world. Epidemics may occur, most often in closed institutional settings such as schools and military camps, but account for only a minority of all the cases. The total incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia in Western populations is 1–5 per 1000 person-years, and several times higher in the very young and the elderly. In developing countries it is estim...

To define the interactions between the absorption of glycyl-L-sarcosine (Gly-Sar; .1mM) and glycine, L-methionylglycine, glycyl-L-leucine, L-carnosine, or Lmethionylglycyl-L-methionyl-L-methionine (each at 5 mM), ovine omasal epithelium was collected from eight wethers (avg. BW = 69 kg) and mounted in parabiotic chambers. [1,2]-[C]Glycyl-L-sarcosine was used as a marker to monitor the presence ...

Bacterial phosphodiesterases have been found that are capable of cleaving the backbone of teichoic acid. Such enzymes have not been reported previously. An aerobic, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium producing this activity was detected and isolated by autoradiography of soil suspensions growing on minimal medium containing (32)P-labeled Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051 cell walls as the sole phosp...

CAMERON, C. M . Antiphagocytic activity of Staphylococcus aureus antigens. Onderstepoort J. vet. Res. (1969), 36 (2) , 199-206. Systematic fractionation of a capsulated stra in cf Staphylococcus aureus has led to the isolation of two antigens which would specifically absorb opsonizing antibody from immune rabbit serum. One of these antigens was shown to be serologically identical to teichoic ac...