Identification and Validation of a Linear Protective Neutralizing Epitope in the β-Pore Domain of Alpha Toxin
Fig 4
Passive immunization of mice with AT-neutralizing antisera specific for a.a. 122–137 protects mice from dermonecrosis.
Five C57BL/6 mice/group were passive immunized i.p. with 0.5 mls of rabbit serum specific for a.a. 122–137 of AT, or irrelevant control rabbit serum. One day later, all mice were challenged i.d. with 20 x 106 CFUs of S. aureus 8325–4 and were followed for 48 hours. After 48 hours, all mice were euthanized and dermonecrotic lesion areas were photographed (A) and lesion areas were determined as described in Material and Methods and displayed graphically (B). Horizontal bars are geometric means. * p = 0.0037, Mann-Whitney U test, one-tailed.