Figure 8.

Evaluation of the ability of immune sera from m1E41920-KLH-immunized mice to inhibit C. burnetii infection in BALB/c mice. The inhibition of C. burnetii was performed by incubation of 1×10⁷ virulent C. burnetii with 30 μl of normal mouse sera or immune sera from m1E41920-KLH-immunized mice at 4 °C overnight. In addition, 1×10⁷ virulent C. burnetii NMI was treated with 30 μl of immune sera from PIV-vaccinated BALB/c mice or 300 μg of purified 1E4 in the same manner and used as positive controls. Six week-old BALB/c mice were infected by i.p. injection with 1×10⁷ of normal mouse sera, immune sera and 1E4-treated C. burnetii, respectively. Splenomegaly and bacterial burden in the spleen were measured at 14 days post infection and used as indicators to evaluate the ability of immune sera from m1E41920-KLH-immunized mice to inhibit C. burnetii infection in BALB/c mice with negative and positive controls. Panel A, splenomegaly was measured by spleen weight as percentage of body weight. Panel B, bacterial burden in the spleen was determined by real time-PCR and reported as log₁₀ of C. burnetii com1 gene copy numbers. Panel C, Pathological changes in the spleen at 14 days post challenge. The data presented in each group is the average with standard deviation of four mice. *, P<0.05; **, P<0.01.