Eight symptomatic individuals chronically exposed to indoor formaldehyde (HCHO) at low concentrations (0.07-0.55 ppm) were compared to 8 nonexposed subjects with respect to: (1) presence of IgG and IgE antibodies to HCHO conjugated to human serum albumin (F-HSA); (2) the percentage of venous blood T and B cells by E and EAC-rosetting; and (3) the ability of T and B cells to undergo mitogen (PHA, PWM) stimulated blastogenesis as measured by the incorporation of tritiated thymidine. Anti-F-HSA IgG, but no IgE, antibodies were detected in the sera of the 8 exposed subjects; none were found in 7 of the unexposed controls. T lymphocytes were decreased in the exposed (48 +/- 11.5%) compared to the control (65.9 +/- 4.97%) subjects (p greater than .001 less than .01). B cells were 12.6 +/- 1.6% (HCHO group) and 14.75 +/- 2.1% (controls) (p greater than .02 less than .05). The incorporation of labeled thymidine by T cells (PHA) was decreased: 17,882 +/- 2,293 cpm (HCHO group) and 28,576 +/- 3,807 cpm (p greater than .001 less than .01). T and B cell blastogenesis (PWM) was 9,698 +/- 1,441 cpm (HCHO group) and 11,279 +/- 1,711 (controls) (p greater than .05 less than .1). Exposure to HCHO appears to stimulate IgG antibodies to F-HSA and decrease the proportion of peripheral T cells.
Immunoglobulin (adsorbed resistance antiserum) reacting specifically with antigens from tetracycline (Tc)-resistant
Staphylcoccus aureus
or
Escherichia coli
was produced by adsorbing immunoglobulin against cell envelopes of resistant strains with envelope extracts from the respective isogenic susceptible strains. Adsorbed resistance antiserum against
S. aureus
reacted with envelope extracts from 32 Tc-resistant strains and failed to react with similar extracts from 76 Tc-susceptible strains of
S. aureus
. An antigen (Tc resistance antigen [TRA]) found only in Tc-resistant strains was produced by adsorbing envelope extracts from these strains with immunoglobulin against envelopes from isogenic Tc-susceptible strains. On immunodiffusion no cross-reactivity between TRAs from
S. aureus
and
E. coli
was observed. The TRAs behaved as proteins. The molecular weight of TRA from
S. aureus
was determined to be 32,000 and from
E. coli
to be 50,000. Data obtained by preliminary amino acid analysis of the TRAs are presented.
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