Quantitative analyses of certain enteric bacteria and bacterial extracts: I. Standardization and sonic disruption of eight enteric bacterial species, each at five population levels.

Standardized individual preparations of five population levels of eight enteric organisms [Escherichia coli (O4:H3), E. coli (O111:B4:H12), Salmonella enteritidis, S. paratyphi B, S. typhimurium, Shigella boydii, S. dysenteriae, and S. sonnei) were prepared. Dry weights, calculated mean cell weight, and nitrogen content of bacterial suspensions before, and of supernatant fluids after, ultrasonic disruption are tabulated. Percentages of disruption, estimated from nitrogen concentration ratios of the suspensions and supernatant fluids, are given. These data are presented as guidelines for the preparation of bacterial extracts prior to precipitin analyses.