Brucella abortus lipopolysaccharide is mitogenic for spleen cells of endotoxin-resistant C3H/HeJ mice.

Preparations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from rough and smooth strains of Brucella abortus were mitogenic for spleen cells of athymic nude mice, C3H/HeAU mice, and the endotoxin-resistant C3H/Hej mice. The mitogenic response induced by crude smooth-LPS (f5) was greater than that produced by purified smooth-LPS (f5p); however, the dose-response curves were similar for both preparations. The mitogenic activity of mouse spleen cells to both f5 and f5p was higher than that produced by stimulation with purified rough-LPS. The dose-response curves with rough-LPS were also qualitatively different from those produced with the preparations of smooth-LPS.