MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY
Online ISSN : 1348-0421
Print ISSN : 0385-5600
ISSN-L : 0385-5600
Volume 39, Issue 11
Displaying 1-14 of 14 articles from this issue
  • Yoshihisa Iwamoto, Yusaku Suzuki, Akinobu Kurita, Yoko Watanabe, Taday ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 831-837
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A new species, Vibrio trachuri sp. nov., was isolated from the cultured Japanese horse mackerel (Trachurus japonicus). These Vibrio were Gram negative, motile rods and formed yellow colonies on BTB teepol and TCBS plate, turned TSI medium to yellow and was sensitive to 150μM O/129 (2, 4-diamino-6, 7-diisopropyl pteridine phosphate) like Listonella anguillarum which has been described as Vibrio anguillarum. However, the results of VP test and decarboxylation of lysine or dihydrolation of arginine suggested that these Vibrio are rather closely related to V. parahaemolyticus. DNA similarity determined by the microplate hybridization technique revealed that these Vibrio are genetically quite distant from Listonella anguillarum or V. parahaemolyticus and rather close to V. harveyi, although there was no Vibrio species which had more than 70% similarity value. From these results we propose to nominate Vibrio trachuri sp. nov. for this new Vibrio species.
    Download PDF (587K)
  • Katsutoshi Saruta, Sadayori Hoshina, Katsuhiko Machida
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 839-844
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Staphylococcus aureus is the most predominant and important pathogen in clinical microbiology. A DNA amplification assay using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was designed to identify S. aureus through a single-base-pair mismatch in the sequences of staphylococcal 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes. It was able to detect and identify S. aureus without requiring additional analytical techniques. Twenty-eight staphylococcal and non-staphylococcal strains were tested to verify the specificity of the assay, and only S. aureus strains gave a positive reaction. It may be possible to provide immediate and exact information for the identification of S. aureus.
    Download PDF (521K)
  • A Hospital-Based Study
    Akiyoshi Utsunomiya, Daniel Elío-Calvo, Armando Alberto Benitez ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 845-851
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A total of 1, 234 fecal samples from diarrhea cases were examined for etiological bacterial agents at medical facilities in La Paz and Sucre, Bolivia. Eighty strains of Shigella spp., 39 strains of Salmonella spp., 29 strains of Vibrio cholerae, and 222 strains of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (139 EPEC, 55 ETEC, 29 EIEC, and 1 EHEC) were isolated. With regard to the serovars of Shigella, S. flexneri 2a, 3a, and 1b were predominant. In the case of Salmonella, S. enteritidis was the most common, followed by S. typhi, S. poona, and S. paratyphi B. Out of 29 cholera strains, 25 belonged to biovar El Tor, serovar Ogawa while the remaining 4 were serovar Inaba. Among 55 strains of ETEC serotypes, 5 showed ST producers but none showed LT producers. Likewise, among 55 strains of enterohemorrhagic serotypes, only one strain (O157:H7) produced verocytotoxin (VT 2). The results of drug sensitivity tests revealed the predominance of Shigella, EPEC, and ETEC strains resistant to aminobenzil-penicillin (ABPC) and trimethoprim. Since diarrheal patients in Bolivia are treated mainly with ABPC or sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SXT) and rarely with gentamicin, kanamycin, or other drugs, it is possible that ABPC- and SXT-resistant strains will increase and persist in the near future.
    Download PDF (689K)
  • Takeshi Igarashi, Ayako Yamamoto, Nobuichi Goto
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 853-860
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The complete nucleotide sequence (3, 747bp) of the dextranase gene (dexA) and flanking regions of the chromosome of Streptococcus mutans Ingbritt (serotype c) were determined. The open reading frame for dexA was 2, 550bp, ending with a stop codon TGA. A putative ribosome-binding site, promoter preceding the start codon, and potential stem-loop structure were identified. The presumed dextranase protein (DexA) consisting of 850 amino acids was estimated to have a molecular size of 94, 536 Da and a pI of 4.79. The nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequences of S. mutans dexA exhibited homologies of 57.8% and 47.0%, respectively, to those of Streptococcus sobrinus dex. The homologous region of dex of S. sobrinus was in the N-terminal half. The C terminus of DexA consisted of a hexapeptide LPQTGD, followed by 7 charged amino acids, 21 amino acids with a strongly hydrophobic character, and a charged hexapeptide tail, which have been reported as a common structure of C termini of not only the surface-associated proteins of Gram-positive cocci but also the extracellular enzymes such as β-fructosidase of S. mutans and dextranase of S. sobrinus. The DexA protein had no significant homology with the glucosyltransferases, the glucan-binding protein, or the dextranase inhibitor of mutans streptococci.
    Download PDF (882K)
  • Koh-ichi Tamada, Shigeki Fujinaga, Rihito Watanabe, Ryoko Yamashita, Y ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 861-871
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The kinetics of human monoclonal antibody (anti-gB) to herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were investigated after intravenous injection of anti-gB into an HSV-1 encephalitis animal model. Immunohistochemical study revealed specific deposition of passively tansferred anti-gB in the hippocampus and thalamus of the infected rat brain, and it bound to the same neurons in which HSV-1 antigen was positively stained. To examine the macroscopic distribution of anti-gB in the infected brain, we undertook an 125I-labeled anti-gB injection study, and the same distribution of 125I-labeled anti-gB deposition was observed by brain semimicroautoradiography as in the immunohistochemical study. These results suggest that anti-gB easily permeates the capillary wall and is deposited in the inflammatory site where HSV-1-specific antigen is detectable. The use of radioisotope-labeled anti-gB injection and external brain imaging could lead to a noninvasive diagnostic tool for the early detection of HSV-1 antigen in cases of suspected HSV-1 encephalitis.
    Download PDF (1059K)
  • Comparison with Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
    Ryo Fukuda, Norihisa Ishimura, Xuan-Thanh Nguyen, Aktaruzzarman Chowdh ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 873-877
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Perforin and granzyme A are the major effectors of cytotoxic T cells in cell-mediated cytotoxicity. However, there has been no report on these effectors in chronic viral hepatitis. In the present study, the expression of perforin and granzyme A mRNA was investigated by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method using liver biopsy specimens and peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 21 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 5 control cases. Perforin mRNA was detected only in the liver of chronic hepatitis patients but not in the control livers. Conversely, perforin mRNA was not expressed in PBMC of the patients with chronic hepatitis (P<0.01). Granzyme A mRNA was detected both in the liver and PBMC of all the cases including control cases. These results indicated that the perforin is an important effector molecule in the hepatocyte lysis in chronic viral hepatitis C.
    Download PDF (510K)
  • Akiou Okumura, Hiroyuki Kishi, Hiromi Tagoh, Jun Minowada, Atsushi Mur ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 879-890
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The nature of lymphoid progenitors and factor(s) determining commitment to either the T- or B-lymphocyte pathway are poorly understood in the human system. In this study, we generated a monoclonal antibody (MoAb), 18.6, that recognizes a cell surface antigen on a human lymphoid progenitor cell line (FL4.4). MoAb 18.6 reacted with lymphoid progenitor lines, B lymphoid cell lines, and myelomonocytic cell lines. It did not react with any T cell or erythroid leukemic cell lines. Two color FACS analyses of normal lymphoid tissues showed that MoAb 18.6 reacted with a majority of CD20+ mature B cells and a minority of CD64+ monocytes. Molecules of 3 different sizes with MW of 34, 45, and 68Kd were precipitated with MoAb 18.6 from the lymphoid progenitor cell line. The 18.6 antigen was not expressed on a fetal liver-derived lymphoid progenitor-like cell line, FL1.4, which has the capacity to differentiate into microglia-shaped cells upon PMA-stimulation. Stimulation of FL1.4 cells with PMA induced expression of the 18.6 antigen within 24hr and the microglia-shaped cells stained positively with MoAb 18.6. Finally, cloning of a cDNA that encoded the 18.6 antigen revealed that the 18.6 antigen is identical to the CD23 antigen. Taken together, these data suggest that the 18.6/CD23 antigen is expressed on lymphoid precursors at a very early stage of differentiation.
    Download PDF (1206K)
  • Haruhiko Taguchi, Takako Osaki, Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, Shigeru Kamiya
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 891-894
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A comparative study of indirect and direct flow cytometric analysis for adherence of Vibrio cholerae to Intestine 407 cells was performed. The direct flow cytometric analysis employed the lipophilic dye PKH-2. It was concluded that direct flow cytometry using the lipophilic dye PKH-2 is useful and convenient for analyzing bacterium-host cell interactions, since it does not require any specific antibody as the first antibody.
    Download PDF (353K)
  • Keiko Yamamura, Tsunehisa Sakurai, Kohji Yano, Takashi Osada, Toshitak ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 895-896
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    To examine the efficacy of sisomicin (SISO) incorporated into fibrin glue (FG) for the prevention of graft infection in animal models, the susceptibility to infection of Dacron grafts (control) and SISO-FG Dacron grafts following the inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus or S. epidermidis was compared. The results showed that SISO-FG Dacron grafts displayed resistance to graft infection.
    Download PDF (173K)
  • Eiko Yabuuchi, Yoshimasa Kosako, Ikuya Yano, Hisako Hotta, Yukiko Nish ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 897-904
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Based on the results of phenotypic characterization, cellular lipid and fatty acid analysis, phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences and rRNA-DNA hybridization, Burkholderia pickettii, Burkholderia solanacearum and Alcaligenes eutrophus are transferred to the new genus Ralstonia, and Ralstonia pickettii (Ralston, Palleroni and Doudoroff 1973) comb. nov., Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith 1896) comb. nov., and R. eutropha (Davis 1969) comb. nov. are proposed. The type species of the new genus is R. pickettii. Type strain of R. pickettii is ATCC 27511T, of R. solanacearum is ATCC 10696T, and of R. eutropha is ATCC 17697T.
    Download PDF (595K)
  • A Good Indicator of Intraperitoneal Pathogenicity
    Yue-Mei Jiang, Tohru Daikoku, Mitsuaki Yamamoto, Tsuneo Morishima, Yuk ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 905-909
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Macrophages are known to play a critical role in host resistance to herpes simplex virus (HSV). In this study, we investigate the interaction between various HSV strains with different virulence and a murine macrophage cell line, RAW264. Highly attenuated strains replicated poorly in RAW264 cells and were cleared from the cultures. For the eleven viruses tested, there was good correlation between intraperitoneal pathogenicity for adult mice and replication in RAW264 cells. It was also shown that interferon α/β was involved in restricted replication of some strains.
    Download PDF (490K)
  • Leying Wen, Hiroshi Ushijima, Junko Kakizawa, Zhao-Yin Fang, Osamu Nis ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 911-915
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Sequence analysis of the gene encoding the major neutralization glycoprotein (VP7) was performed on sixteen human isolates of serotype 2 of rotavirus in Japan, China, and Pakistan and their genetic variations were examined. Comparative studies of their nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences between the sixteen isolates and the HU5 strain revealed an overall homology of more than 94%. A higher degree of homology in nucleotides was observed among the sixteen isolates than between HU5 and the isolates. A total of thirteen amino acid residues frequently converted to another amino acid. Out of the thirteen, five amino acid residues belonging to the major neutralizing epitope regions (C, E, and F in this communication) converted frequently. From the amino acid sequences three subtypes, subtype 1, subtype 2, and intermediate, were suggested to be classified as previously reported for serotype 1 (Xin et al, Virology, 1993, 197: 813-816).
    Download PDF (498K)
  • Serological Study on Patients with Filariasis in Recife, Brazil
    Maria Ieda Siqueira Linhares, Elizabeth Malagueño, Luiz Carvalh ...
    1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 917-919
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The seroprevalence of antibodies against human T-cell leukemia virus was determined by ELISA in 68 patients with filarial infestation living in an endemic area. The total seropositivity was 2.9% and the HTLV-1-positive cases were detected in 2 microfilaremic patients 12 and 40 years old. This value is very close to that obtained for healthy individuals in the same region and age groups. This result suggests that there is no relationship between filariasis and HTLV-1 infection as previously proposed.
    Download PDF (264K)
  • 1995 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 921
    Published: 1995
    Released on J-STAGE: March 23, 2011
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (74K)
feedback
Top