Figure 2.

Kinetics of phage-specific antibody production in blood of mice treated with phages A3R or 676Z. IgM, IgG, and IgA levels were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Mice (N = 6) were administered purified preparations of phages A3R or 676Z in drinking solution of the final concentration 4 × 10⁹ pfu/ml. Phage-enriched drinking water was administered as a sole water source continuously for 100 days. For the following 120 days phage preparations were removed from the diet and then applied again for the final 44 days of the experiment. The periods of phage treatment are indicated in the figure as a light blue background. Control mice were separated from phage-treated mice and received no phage in the diet. They were examined for presence of phages active against A3R and 676Z bacterial S. aureus host strains and no phage activity was detected during the whole experiment. Blood was collected from the tail vein; thus the same mice were sampled for the whole experiment. The experiment was repeated twice with concordant results. One representative experiment is presented in the figure.