Humoral Immunity in Experimental Syphilis. I. The Demonstration of Resistance Conferred by Passive Immunization. II. The Relationship of Neutralizing Factors in Immune Serum to Acquired Resistance,

Abstract

Evidence of a role for humoral factor(s) in immunity to experimental syphilis has been provided by the demonstration that passive immunization of rabbits by daily intravenous injections of immune serum significantly delays the appearance and markedly diminishes the severity and duration of lesions which develop following challenge with Treponema pallidum. Five rabbits were injected daily over 37 days with 3 ml/kg body weight of pooled immune rabbit serum and challenged intradermally 4 hours after the initial serum injection with 1,100 T. pallidum, Nichols strain, at each of 4 sites. The animals developed atypical lesions of short duration after an average delay in onset of 28 days beyond the development of typical lesions in control animals. The failure of passive immunization to provide complete protection was evident not only in the development of the atypical lesions, but also in the demonstration of disseminated infection in the tissues of 3 of the 4 surviving animals 7 months after challenge.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 02, 1975
Accession Number
ADA019007

Entities

People

  • James N. Miller
  • Nancy H. Bishop

Organizations

  • University of California, Los Angeles

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bacterial Infections And Mycoses
  • Body Weight
  • Demonstrations
  • Humoral Immunity
  • Immune Serums
  • Immune System Phenomena
  • Immunity
  • Immunization
  • Immunomodulation
  • Infection
  • Resistance
  • Resistance (Biology)
  • Syphilis
  • Wound Infections

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Immunology