Ultrastructure of circulating immune complexes isolated from the blood plasma of patients suffering from infectious diseases

• Published in: Journal of basic microbiology Vol. 35; no. 3; p. 163
• Main Authors: Didenko, L V, Andreevskaya, S G, Konstantinova, N D, Buchwalow, I B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany 1995
• Subjects: Antigen-Antibody Complex - blood; Antigen-Antibody Complex - ultrastructure; Blood Bactericidal Activity; Gram-Negative Bacteria - ultrastructure; Gram-Positive Bacteria - ultrastructure; Humans; Yersinia enterocolitica; Yersinia Infections - immunology; Yersinia Infections - microbiology; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Infections - immunology; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Infections - microbiology
• ISSN: 0233-111X
• DOI: 10.1002/jobm.3620350308

An original procedure which permits to isolate circulating immune complexes (CIC) from the blood plasma in a form of a dense pellet was developed. This procedure was applied for the ultrastructural analysis of CIC isolated from blood of healthy blood donors and patients suffering from Yersinia enterocolitica (YE) and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (YP) infections. The here reported method of CIC isolation from blood plasma permitted to visualize CIC electronmicroscopically as amorphous masses of low, middle, and high electron density with inclusions of cell debris. In contrast to CIC of healthy blood donors, CIC of infected patients contained various bacteria and fungiformic structures. For the first time, this method made possible an ultrastructural demonstration of bacterial destruction outside of phagocytes in vivo. This method also permits to visualize and identify bacteria in cases of lingering forms of infection when hemoculture tests fail. Therefore, electronmicroscopic examination of CIC preparations from the blood plasma might be a very informative indicator of bacteriemia in the course of an infection process and serve as an indicator of therapeutic effects. In lingering forms of an infection process, ultrastructural analysis of CIC preparations can be of prognostic value and serve as an indicator of therapeutic effects. This method might be also advantageous as an additional test for the exposure of latent bacterial persistence in diagnostically complicated cases.