title: Electrophoretic and serological characterization of the lipopolysaccharide produced by Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
abstract: Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of purified lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Neisseria gonorrhoeae resulted in the formation of multiple bands. Many of the bands consisted of LPS aggregates, which could be dissociated by treatment with 0.1 M NaOH or by addition of 4 M urea to the separating gel. The unaggregated LPS was usually found in one to three bands toward the bottom of the gels, a result suggesting that a long repeating O antigen is not present on gonococcal LPS. SDS-PAGE of LPS from different LPS serotypes of N gonorrhoeae indicated that structural heterogeneity exists. Antigenic analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition of gonococcal LPS extracted with phenol-chloroform-petroleum ether (PCP) and phenol-water revealed that PCP-extracted LPS contained substantially less serotype-specific antigen than did phenol-water-extracted LPS. These results suggest that the PCP and phenol-water methods extract different molecular species of LPS from N gonorrhoeae.
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes; D002725:Chloroform; D004492:Edetic Acid; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D019800:Phenol; D010636:Phenols; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D013045:Species Specificity; D014508:Urea
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D000939:Epitopes; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D010636:Phenols; D019800:Phenol; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D002725:Chloroform; D014508:Urea; D004492:Edetic Acid; C004544:naphtha