The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 32, Issue 1 19-24, Copyright © 1990 by Society for General Microbiology
Opsonic requirements and surface hydrophobicity of novobiocin-resistant, coagulase-negative staphylococci
L. Marodi, P. Burjan and F. Rozgonyi
Department of Pediatrics, University School of Medicine, Debrecen, Hungary.
The opsonic requirement for phagocytosis and killing and cell-surface
hydrophobicity of five strains of Staphylococcus saprophyticus isolated
from clinical sources were studied. Phagocytosis and killing of bacteria by
human granulocytes were measured in suspension. Bacterial aggregating
cell-surface hydrophobicity was determined by salt aggregation, and the
absorptive hydrophobicity was measured by hydrophobic interaction
chromatography. All strains were well opsonised by pooled normal human
serum 10%. Ingestion of these bacteria could be detected to a variable
extent in the absence of extracellular opsonins; heat-inactivated serum 10%
or intravenous IgG concentrate 1 mg/ml improved phagocytosis of all
strains. Significantly increased rates of both the ingestion and killing of
one of the five strains occurred in the presence of IgG or in the absence
of opsonins, compared to those found with each of the other four. This
particular strain had significantly stronger adsorptive surface
hydrophobicity than the other four strains, and with all strains there was
a correlation between hydrophobicity and phagocytosis by granulocytes in
the absence of opsonins.
