Infectious Myxomatosis of Rabbits

The soluble antigen of myxoma is a heat-labile protein which has an isoelectric point near pH 4.5 and is precipitated from half saturated solutions of ammonium sulfate. It can be partially purified by methods of differential precipitation based on variations in the pH and electrolyte concentration. Rabbits receiving the labile, soluble substance of myxoma develop homologous precipitins and their serum agglutinates elementary bodies of myxoma, provided the dermal pulp from which the bodies are obtained contains the soluble substance; neutralizing antibodies do not appear, however, and the animals are not resistant to infection with the virus of myxoma. Elementary bodies of myxoma appear to have a heat-stable agglutinogen that operates when brought in contact with serum from animals recovered from myxoma, but little, if at all, when in contact with anti-soluble substance serum.