RESUMO
Phenolic glycolipids play a key role as an antigenic probe for serodiagnosis of some human pathogen mycobacterial infections. The lipidic part which corresponds to a phenolphthiocerol dimycocerosate molecule, and the presence of partial O-methylated sugars, confer a high hydrophobicity to this kind of molecule. Fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometric analysis with standard matrices such as glycerol or thioglycerol was unsuccessful. Using a new matrix--monobutyltriethylene glycol--FAB analysis allows molecular weight determination and partial structural elucidation of the saccharidic and the lipidic part of those compounds.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Bactérias/análise , Glicolipídeos/análise , Mycobacterium/análise , Glicolipídeos/imunologia , Espectrometria de Massas , Mycobacterium/imunologia , Mycobacterium leprae/análise , Mycobacterium leprae/imunologiaRESUMO
The specificity of Mycobacterium kansasii anti-mycoside A antiserum prepared in rabbits injected with purified samples of the phenolic glycolipid was evaluated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Chloroform-methanol extracts from representative strains of 23 mycobacterial species and 50 strains of M. kansasii showed that all strains of M. kansasii and the representative strain of M. gastri formed the antigen, whereas none of the remaining species (including M. leprae) formed it. Consequently, it was found that the antiserum was highly specific and useful for diagnostic purposes.