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Abstract
A protective glycolipid antigen (PAg) was extracted from Leptospira interrogans serovar canicola with chloroform/methanol/water (1:2:0.8, by vol.) and partially purified by silica gel column chromatography. The PAg elicited a protective response in hamsters and in cyclophosphamide-treated mice subsequently challenged with homologous Leptospira. The PAg band was detected as a single smear-like band, corresponding to a protein of 23–30 kDa, by silver-staining in SDS-PAGE. In immunoblots, this band reacted with a monoclonal antibody, A5, which agglutinated serovar canicola and recognized a serovar-specific antigen. Furthermore, the PAg did not migrate on silica gel TLC, but was detected at the origin as a ninhydrin- and naphthol-positive spot. This suggests that PAg is a hydrophilic molecule with a carbohydrate chain that contains amino groups, possibly as amino sugars.
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