| Abstract: | The kinetics of antibody production response to experimentally induced infection of dogs with Ehrlichia canis was determined by ion-exchange and molecularsieve chromatography and by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test. The first IFA antibody at 7 days after inoculation resided in immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) classes. At approximately 21 days after inoculation, the antibody was in IgM, IgA, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) classes. Thereafter, antibody concentrations continued to increase in the IgG class; those in the other 2 immunoglobulin classes had a variable pattern. In 2 dogs which died 60 and 114 days after inoculation, a decrease of antibody concentration in the 3 immunoglobulin classes was evident at the time of death. In the carrier dog, however, which was killed 147 days after inoculation, antibody concentrations sustained increasing titers in the 3 immunoglobulin classes. |
