Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (disodium salt)-labile bovine immunoglobulin M Fc binding to Brucella abortus: a cause of nonspecific agglutination.

It was demonstrated by a radioimmunoassay procedure that Brucella abortus agglutinins from noninfected cattle sera, absorbed to B. abortus antigen and eluted with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), was immunoglobulin M that bound to that bacterium by its Fc portion. The EDTA-eluted immunoglobulin M agglutinated intact B. abortus cells but not erythrocytes treated with B. abortus lipopolysaccharide. The specificity of the EDTA-eluted immunoglobulin was for B. abortus, although a small titer to Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:9 was observed. In contrast, immunoglobulin M purified from the serum of a cow injected 7 days previously with heat-killed B. abortus bound to the antigen by its Fab portion, was not labile to EDTA treatment, cross-reacted extensively with Y. enterocolitica serotype O:9, and agglutinated various other bacterial antigens and normal erythrocytes.