Protective effect of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against abortion in mice infected by Chlamydia psittaci

Abstract

The role of antibody in preventing placental and fetal infection by Chlamydia psittaci was studied in mice. Pregnant mice were passively immunized with polyclonal sera or monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) at day 11 of gestation. The mice were intravenously challenged the following day with the virulent AB7 ovine abortion strain of C. psittaci. Mice were either killed on day 16 of gestation to determine placental and fetal chlamydial infection levels or were permitted to have and raise their young until 8 days old for comparison of survival rates. Immune sera produced a decrease in both placental and fetal infection and reduced the number of young dying in utero or shortly after birth. Polyclonal sera to the highly invasive AB7 and AB4 strains or to the invasive 1B strain were more effective than serum to the invasive AB13 strain. The B577/F3 and B577/A11 monoclonal antibodies gave almost complete protection, with only low levels of placental infection and no detectable fetal infection or decrease in survival rate. The study demonstrates that immune sera and type-specific mAbs can passively transfer resistance to placental and fetal colonization and to abortion and fetal loss in mice intravenously challenged with P. psittaci.