Immunofluorescent Demonstration of the Common Enterobacterial Antigen.

The fluorescent antibody technique was used to study the presence of an antigen common to many species of Entero-bacteriaceae and demonstrated localization of this antigen in the cell wall of these species. Although the studies indicate that specific 0 antigen comprised the largest portion of the cell wall of these organisms, satisfactory cell wall fluorescence was obtained utilizing antiserum against the common antigen. In addition, correlation between immunofluorescence and hemagglutination results were excellent. The use of antiserum against the common antigen allows studies of immunofluorescence of multiple strains of Enterobacteriaceae without the necessity of multiple type specific antisera.