Protective Activity of Different Immunosera AgainstClostridium chauvoei

The protective activity of several antiserum preparations againstC. chauvoeistrain 5078 challenge is studied. Immunosera were obtained from the following antigenic preparations from 12 h-old cultures ofC. chauvoeiat 37°C in anaerobic conditions: (1) flagellar suspension (F); (2) cellular extract (CE): lyophilised cells (0·5 g) extracted by using veronal buffer, pH = 8·6; (3) formaldehyde-treated cell suspension with 0·5% of formol (FC); and (4) heated cells boiled for 2 h(ØC). Lots of white rabbits were inoculated by i.v. route for each immunogenic preparation. The immunosera agglutination titres were: F:1:476, CE: 1:13186; FC 1:476 and ØC: 1:64. Passive immunisation was carried out by injecting by the i.p. route groups of ten mice with 0·5 mL of pooled sera. Mice were challenged 6 h later with a spore suspension in CaCl22·5% containing 10 LD50. Both immunised and non-immunised animals were observed for 4 days. Anti-CE and anti-FC protected 100% of the animals, while anti-F and anti-ØC protected 75% and 50%, respectively. Results showed that protective antigens were extracted by the veronal buffer, and that heat destroys some of them. Although FC protected 100% of immunised animals, it has been shown elsewhere that CE presented the same protective response in mice when diluted at least 1:500. Results also show that flagella contributes in part to the immunogenicity of the strain.