Biological activities of lipopolysaccharide-like substance (LLS) extracted from Leptospira interrogans serovar canicola strain Moulton.
The biological activities of lipopolysaccharide-like substance (LLS) extracted from Leptospira interrogans serovar canicola strain Moulton by the hot phenol-water method were studied in mice. The addition of 12.5 micrograms/ml or more of LLS fraction increased the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into in vitro cultured spleen cells of C57BL/6 mice, while the activity of the LLS fraction was about 20 times weaker than that of Salmonella typhimurium lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Pretreatment of murine spleen cells with rabbit anti-mouse thymocyte antiserum did not diminish the mitogenic activity of leptospiral LLS, and the LLS could not increase the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into thymocytes, suggesting that LLS acts on a B-lymphocyte population of lymphocytes. When sheep erythrocytes and LLS fraction were injected intraperitoneally into BALB/c mice, LLS exhibited an enhancing effect on antibody response in vivo. However, lethal toxicity of the LLS fraction was about 500 times lower than that of LPS in C57BL/6 mice loaded with galactosamine. No antitumor activity of leptospiral LLS (250-1,000 micrograms/mouse) against the ascites form of Ehrlich carcinoma in ddY mice was observed. The biological activities of the LLS fraction from the organism were weaker than those of gram-negative bacterial LPS, suggesting that Leptospira possesses no typical LPS.
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D007921:Leptospira interrogans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008934:Mitogens