Agglutinins for Bacterium Necrophorum in the Serum of Patients with Chronic Ulcerative Colitis

Abstract

The significance of Bacterium necrophorum in chronic ulcerative colitis has been difficult to evaluate since this bacterium, although constantly associated with the lesions in the colon of patients with this disease is also associated with ulcerative lesions of the colon in patients who do not have chronic ulcerative colitis. Furthermore, chronic ulcerative colitis has not been produced with this bacterium in experimental animals.,2,3 In previous reports we have called attention to the antibodies for Bacterium necrophorum developed in the serum of patients with chronic ulcerative colitis. In the agglutination test one of the difficulties encountered was the spontaneous agglutination which occurred with many of the strains. We have obtained several strains that do not agglutinate spontaneously and this report is based on a study with 6 such antigens. These 6 antigens were selected since they appeared to represent different antigenic groupings when tested with immune rabbit serums representing a large number of Bact. necrophorum strains. In this study the agglutinins in patients' serum were determined in different stages of the disease. Furthermore a careful control study was made on the agglutinins in the serums of individuals with normal colons as well as in the serums of patients with other lesions in the colon, other than those of chronic ulcerative colitis. Thus by studying the antibody response of patients to Bacterium necrophorum we hoped to learn more of the role of this bacterium in chronic ulcerative colitis. Of the 6 strains used 5 were isolated from the colon of patients with chronic ulcerative colitis at proctoscopic examination. The remaining strain was isolated from the severely ulcerated rectum of a girl with bacillary dysentery. The stock cultures are maintained in Rosenow's brain medium and on blood agar slants kept in an anaerobic jar. The antigens are prepared by inoculating approximately 1 cc. of an actively growing brain broth culture into a freshly prepared flask of cysteine (0.05%) dextrose (1%) veal infusion broth. The flask of broth if freshly prepared does not need to be placed in an anaerobic environment to support growth of the organisms. Usually rapid growth follows within 24 hours at the end of which time the culture is put