Studies on the Treponemal Immobilization Test

Syphilis D′ Emblee

“…[ 7 ] Serological test for syphilis include VDRL, T. pallidum immobilization test, fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption(FTA-ABS) test, T. pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA) test and EIA (Treponemal enzyme immunoassay) test. [ 8 – 11 ] In this case VDRL and TPHA tests were reactive. The characteristic histopathological findings of syphilis are perivascular infiltration of plasma cells and lymphocytes and intimal proliferation of both arteries and veins (endarteritis obliterans), which was seen in the biopsy of lip lesion of our case.…”

The Light of Many Minds: ROYAL FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW GLASGOW LOCK HOSPITAL TRUST PRIZE ESSAY

“…As a means of following the effects of treatment, however, it is no substitute for the older tests. This is because immobilizing antibodies usually persist for long periods of time despite treatment which is adequate as judged by the clinical response and the reversal of the standard serum tests (Magnuson and Thompson, 1949;Nelson and Diesendruck, 1951;Chacko, 1953;Wilkinson, 1954;Olansky, Harris, and Price, 1956). Unfortunately, the treponemal immobilization test requires considerable technical skill and effort if the results are to be trusted.…”

“…There have been many other recent attempts to establish improved tests for syphilis, including the study of precipitin reactions against extracts of spirochaetes (Saurino and DeLamater, 1952), the serological investigation of spirochaetes which can be cultivated in vitro such as Reiter's treponeme (Kolmer, 1942a, b;Puccinelli, 1951;D'Alessandro and Dardanoni, 1953;Wilkinson, 1957), and the possibility of using the "immune adherence phenomenon" which occurs when spirochaetes are mixed with normal human red cells in the presence of specific antibodies (Nelson, 1953;Miller, Boak, and Carpenter, 1957). There is no doubt, however, that to-day the most promising line of investigation represents a return to the original idea of Wassermann, that T. pallidum itself or some product derived from it should be used in complementfixation tests. This has been attempted by several workers (Portnoy andMagnuson, 1955, 1956;Meinicke, 1956;Ruge, Knothe, and Otten, 1957), but particular mention must be made of the work of Price and Whelan (1957).…”

IONIC REQUIREMENTS OF TREPONEMA PALLIDUM I

“…Although Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, has not been cultivated in vitro, it is possible to maintain motile organisms for several days in an artificial culture medium. Thus, Nelson (1948) described a chemically defined medium in which the "half-life" of the organisms was as much as 6 to 8 days at 30 C. Other workers have not found Nelson's medium consistently satisfactory for maintaining the motility of T. pallidum (Magnuson and Thompson, 1949;Portnoy et al, 1953;Saurino, 1953;Nielsen, 1953;Boak and Miller, 1954;Wilkinson, 1954). For many years, a medium containing human serum ultrafiltrate, inactivated rabbit serum, phosphate buffer, sodium pyruvate, and physiological sodium chloride solution has been used by investigators in this laboratory for maintaining the motility of T. pallidum for periods of several days.…”