The production of anti-hapten antibody after immunization with trinitrophenylated (TNP) hamster erythrocytes (HRBC) or sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) was determined in high- and low-responder mouse strains against HRBC antigen. 1) Anti-TNP antibody was detected in sera of high-responder DDD and CF1 mice after primary immunization with TNP-HRBC, but not in those of low-responder C57BL/6 mice. 2) Anti-TNP antibody was detectable in sera of all the strains after primary immunization with TNP-SRBC. 3) Production of anti-TNP antibody was elicited after a booster injection of TNP-HRBC in low-responder C57BL/6 mice pre-sensitized with HRBC in Freund's complete adjuvant, These results suggest that functions of thymus-derived cells specific for HRBC antigen are deficient in low-responder mice.

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Many drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli were isolated from the intestinal tracts of yellowtails (Seriola quinqueradiata) cultured on farms in various parts of Kochi and Ehime Prefectures, Shikoku Island. They were Vibrio, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Citrobacter and some unidentified Enterobacteriaceae. Of these drug-resistant strains, Vibrio and Pseudomonas were found to carry R factors in high frequencies. These R factors had four types of resistance markers, SA, SA. CM, SM. CM. ABP. and SA. SM. CM. TC. All R factors were found to belong to the fi^- type. In contrast, only one drug-resistant gram-negative bacillus was detected in a cultured yellowtail on farms near Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

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Pili of Corynebacterium renale strains 115 (type I) and 42 (type III) were purified, and compared chemically and immunologically with those of strain 46 (type II). Purification of the pili of the two strains was more complicated than that of the pili of strain 46. Pili of the three types of C. renale were dispersed in lmM ATP and were thermostable. Stability in antigenicity and morphology in O.1N HCl and 0.1N NaOH was different, and the antigenicity of the pili was different among the pili of the three types of C. renale.

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Majority (80%) of the 40 strains of Proteus rettgeri isolated from clinical specimens were resistant to seven drugs: [chloramphenicol (CM), tetracycline (TC), dihydrostreptomycin (SM), sulfanilamide (SA), kanamycin (KM), ampicillin (APC), and cephaloridine (CER)], followed by those resistant to six drugs (15%), single TC-resistance (2.5%) and non-resistant strains (2.5%), in decreasing orders. Ninety-five percent of the 39 multiple drug-resistant strains conjugally transferred some of their resistance markers and 92% of the R⁺ P. rettgeri were found to be in a hetero–R state. The R factor conferring single KM-resistance was isolated most frequently but TC resistance was never transferable. Detailed analysis of two strains of P. rettgeri in a hetero–R state, GN3162 and GN3163, using two recipients, Escherichia colt MLI410 and P. rettgeri GN3195, disclosed that resistance patterns of conjugants obtained from the same donor strain were almost identical in both recipients of the different species. When strain ML1410, which had received the whole pattern of multiple resistance of the original isolate, was used as a secondary donor, separate transfer of R factors was again observed. The component of R factors in the hetero–R strains was determined by transduction experiments as R (KM), R (APC), R (CM. KM) and R (SM. SA). All of these R factors were fi^-. Reconstruction of the original hetero-R state was carried out by superinfection either in E. coli or P. rettgeri, and one of the original strains was observed to be carrying three kinds of R factors, viz., (CM. KM), (SM. SA), and (KM).

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An immune ribonucleic acid (RNA) preparation was extracted with phenol from the spleens of mice immunized with sheep red blood cells (SRBC). When mice were injected intravenously with iRNA, rosette formers in the spleens of such mice were demonstrated but plaque formers and serum antibody could not be detected. As reported previously, iRNA against SRBC also could induce memory cells capable of responding to a small amount of antigen to produce a high titer of antibody. The necessary interval between the iRNA and antigen stimulation for induction of a secondary response was found to be three weeks or more. Presence of an optimal dose of iRNA for the induction of memory cells was demonstrated, and the role of iRNA in antibody formation and the optimal dose of iRNA for the induction of memory cells were discussed.

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Study was made to clarify the experimental conditions for the capsular polysaccharide of Klebsiella pneumoniae (CPS-K) to exhibit maximum adjuvant effect on antibody production to bovine serum albumin (BSA) in mice. To obtain the maximum primary antibody response and also the strongest priming for a secondary response to BSA, 1000μg of CPS-K had to be injected intramuscularly into the same or adjacent site of BSA injection within the period of 1hr before to 6hr after the BSA injection. The optimum amount of BSA giving the maximum antibody response and also the strongest priming under these experimental conditions was 15mg. In mice thus primed, an extremely high secondary response was induced by injecting 0.5mg of BSA 30 days after the initial injection. The minimum amount of CPS-K, to exhibit a strong adjuvant action, was 100μg, which was equal to the minimum amount to induce immunologic paralysis to a homologous antigen. Extremely large amounts, such as 100 to 300mg per mouse of BSA, were also strongly immunogenic when injected together with paralyzing doses of CPS-K. In vitro admixture of BSA and CPS-K before injection did not strengthen adjuvant action of CPS-K. Alum-precipitated BSA mixed with CPS-K was not more immunogenic than native BSA mixed with CPS-K. Addition of Freund's complete adjuvant to an injection of BSA and CPS-K mixture did not enhance the adjuvant effect of CPS-K.

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Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa culture IFO 3445, the nutritional requirements and cultural conditions suitable for slime production were investigated. A synthetic medium was established from the experimental results, which was composed of sodium glutamate, glucose, phosphate and magnesium salt. When a cellophane plate method was used, incubation at 37C for 3 days attained the highest relative viscosity. In the presence of an oxidizable carbohydrate the relative viscosity of the culture fluid was reduced with the acidic reaction, and recovered if the reaction was adjusted to pH7-8.

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Transfers of Streptococcus pyogenes strain T12 in Todd-Hewitt broth containing stepwise increases in amounts of mitomycin C (MC) gave rise to slight changes of their colonial appearances. Variants thus obtained were examined for antibiotic and bile resistances; production of streptolysin-S, -O and deoxyribonuclease; growth in alkaline medium, high salt concentration, and at 10C and 45C; sugar fermentations, and precipitin reactions. Four strains retained group A antigen, but some of them lost the ability to produce hemolysins and deoxyribonuclease, and acquired resistance to bile, penicillin and streptomycin as well as MC, and to physical environments. Four other, strains lost group A antigen and acquired new antigens common to cells of group C, group D, or highly antibiotic-resistant mutants reported previously. A variant which reacted with group C antiserum contained galactosamine, but not glucosamine, while the parent strain showed the reverse pattern. Many other variants contained both hexosamines. Even a variant, strain TL3-2, reacted strongly only with group A antiserum, but contained glucose and both hexosarnines. These strains having galactosamine possessed uridine diphosphate (UDP)-N-acetylglucosamine-4-epimerase activity which converted the substrate into UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, while the parent strain failed to demonstrate the existence of this enzyme. The variants were discussed with respect to the group A streptococcal variations possessing no more original characteristics.

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Herpes virus was reacted with an early rabbit antiserum containing predominantly complementrequiring neutralizing (CRN) antibody to produce CRN-antibody-sensitized virus (SV), and the action of complement (C') upon SV was studied. Reduction of infectivity due to C' was about equal with undiluted and 1000-fold diluted SV. Even higher dilutions which contained about 10 to 100 infectious units per 0.05ml were also completely inactivated by C'. Kinetic experiments revealed that the velocity of titer reduction in the presence of C' of 100-fold diluted SV was not slower than that of undiluted SV. When SV was first treated with C' and then diluted 100-fold, the surviving virus showed but a slightly reduced efficiency of filtration through the 0.45μ Millipore membrane as compared with SV first diluted 1:100 and then treated with C'. The titer reduction of SV-C'1 complexes in the presence of C'4 followed a one-hit curve. These results indicated that the reduction of infectivity of SV due to C' was not a result of immunoaggregation of infectious SV. Alternative possible mechanisms of the action of C' are discussed.

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Thymidine kinase (TK) was induced in dog kidney cells (DKC) and hamster embryo cells (HEC) infected with infectious canine hepatitis virus (ICHV). The enzyme activity increased and reached levels of 13 and 19 times as much as in uninfected cells by the 30th hr after infection in virus-infected DKC and HEC, respectively. No difference in the pattern of inactivation at 45C was found between the TK of infected and uninfected cells. The activity of the TK from ICHV-infected DKC was not inhibited by a dog serum hyperimmunized against ICHV-infected DKC. From these results it was concluded that the TK which increased in ICHV-infected cells was of the cellular origin.

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A live measles virus vaccine was prepared with a virus strain attenuated by passage in the primary sheep kidney cell culture. All of 209 initially seronegative children showed seroconversion after subcutaneous inoculation of one dose of the vaccine. The geometric mean of neutralizing antibody titers following vaccination was 2^6.6, Axillary temperature of 37.5 C or higher was recorded in 23.6% of 199 vaccinees with adequate clinical records, but only 4% had fever over 39.0C. The average maximal temperature in feverish children was 38.3C. Fever usually lasted for only one or two days. Neither febrile convulsion nor other toxic reactions was observed.

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