Antibodies to phospholipids in experimental nocardiosis.

Live Nocardia asteroides injected intraperitoneally into guinea pigs produced antibodies to phospholipids of Nocardia whereas antibodies were not detected in animals injected with heat-killed N. asteroides. The antibody titer was found to be related with the degree of infection; a significant decrease was noted after sulfadiazine treatment suggesting that antibodies were produced in response to an increasing bacterial load that occurred as the infection progressed.