Quantitative characteristics of human antibodies to the peptidoglycans of different Staphylococcus species

: The content of antibodies to peptidoglycans of 13 staphylococcal species was studied in the ELISA with the IgG fraction isolated from commercial human immunoglobulin. The content of antibodies to S. aureus peptidoglycan (calculated per mg of protein) was 3.0 micrograms and that of antibodies to peptidoglycans of other species amounted to 1.8-4.1 micrograms. The maximal value was obtained for S. xylosus and the minimal value, for S. lentus. No relationship between the content of antibodies to peptidoglycans and the degree of their antigenic affinity to S. aureus peptidoglycan was noted: the scatter of the values in species with relatively low and even minimal affinity did not exceed the range of variance in the group with a high degree of homology (2.2-2.4 micrograms). The production of antibodies to staphylococcal peptidoglycans was supposed to result from the action of a complex of antigenic determinants, both common and specific for each staphylococcal species.