ELISA-Based Measurement of Antibody Responses and PCR-Based Detection Profiles Can Distinguish between Active Infection and Early Clearance of Borrelia burgdorferi
Figure 1
Comparison of Bb-specific antibody levels produced during active infection versus exposure to high numbers of killed bacteria. (a) Groups of B6 mice were injected with a single dose of live or heat-killed Bb, and serum was collected at either 2 or 4 weeks after infection; in some cases the killed Bb inoculum included an equal volume of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). The doses injected ranged from 1000 (“”) to 5 × 107 (“”) killed bacteria, and 250 to 5 × 104 (“”) live Bb. Individual sera were assessed for Bb-specific IgM content at 2 weeks after infection and for IgG content at 4 weeks after infection by ELISA analyses. Each circle represents the serum value for an individual animal, and the number beside the bar indicates the average value for that group. *indicates values that are significantly different from control mice (Un); **indicates values that are significantly different from mice injected with killed bacteria. (b) The sera assessed for IgG content in (a) were also assessed for the levels of the indicated individual IgG isotypes using similar ELISA techniques.
