Biological properties of lipid A isolated from Flavobacterium meningosepticum.
The biological properties of the lipid A from Flavobacterium meningosepticum, which we recently isolated and whose complete chemical structure has been determined (H. Kato, T. Iida, Y. Haishima, A. Tanaka, and K. Tanamoto. J. Bacteriol. 180:3891--3899, 1998), were studied. The lipid A exhibited generally moderate activity compared to Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar abortus equi lipopolysaccharide (LPS) used as a control in the assay systems tested; lethal toxicity in galactosamine-sensitized mice, mitogenicity in mouse spleen cells, induction of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) release from mouse peritoneal macrophages and J774-1 mouse macrophage-like and human THP-1 line cells, nitric oxide induction activity from J774-1 cells, and Limulus gelation activity. The moderate activity of the F. meningosepticum lipid A may be explained by its unique fatty acid composition and the lack of a phosphate group in position 4'. It is noteworthy that the lipid A apparently induced TNF-alpha release from peritoneal macrophages in LPS-unresponsive C3H/HeJ mice and that the activation was suppressed by the LPS-specific antagonist, succinylated lipid A precursor. Significant splenocyte mitogenicity in C3H/HeJ mice was also observed with the lipid A. Taken together with the previous results concerning Porphyromonas gingivalis lipid A, which has a high level of structural similarity to the lipid A of F. meningosepticum, and the induction of TNF-alpha release in macrophages from C3H/HeJ mice, the lipid A of F. meningosepticum, which has novel fatty acids, may possibly play an role for the activation of C3H/HeJ macrophages.
Tanamoto
K
K
Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan. tanamoto@nihs.go.jp
Kato
H
H
Haishima
Y
Y
Azumi
S
S
D000818:Animals; D005417:Flavobacterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008050:Lipid A / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D008262:Macrophage Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
D008050:Lipid A; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha