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Young mycelial extract(ME) of Aspergillus fumigatus was produced from homogenate of 4 day old mycelium disintegrated by Braun mechanical homogenizer under intermittent chilling with CO₂. Immunoelectrophoretic analysis was performed using the rabbit anti-A. A. fumigatus hyperimmune serum revealed that ME possessed at least 43 precipitinogens, indicating a good starting material for further fractionation in order to isolate serologically active and specific antigens. ME has catalase activity and hydrolytic enzymes of Tween 80, casein and starch. Five fractions designated as FA, FB, FC, BS and US were prepared by Sephadex G-100 and DE-52 ion exchange column chromatography. FA contained more than 16 precipitinogens, most of which were glycoproteins, while at least 23 proteinic precipitinogens were found in FB fraction and 19 precipitinogens in BS. No precipitinogens were detected in FC and US fractions. In experimentally infected rabbits with spores of A. fumigatus, specific antibodies were detected 12 days after infection and reached to the maximum titer after 28 days. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) using antigens derived from young mycelial extract of A. fumigatus was found to be very sensitive in detecting specific antibody in sera from patients with pulmonary aspergillosis.
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