Effect of Adjuvants on Antibody Response of Rabbits Inoculated with Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus.

Shepel, Michael (U.S. Army Biological Laboratories, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.) and Maxwell R. Klugerman. Effect of adjuvants on antibody response of rabbits inoculated with Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus. J. Bacteriol. 85:1150-1155. 1963.-Hemagglutination-inhibition, neutralization, and complement-fixation tests were performed on sera of rabbits inoculated with Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus in combination with Freund's adjuvants and in Hank's salt solution. This study indicated that the complete adjuvants (i.e., with mycobacteria) considerably increased the antibody response to VEE virus. Mycobacterium butyricum (M. smegmatis) appeared to be more effective than M. tuberculosis H37Ra. In the absence of mycobacteria, the response was much less pronounced. Paper electrophoretic studies of the antisera demonstrated a marked increase in gamma-globulin production, an increase in the beta-globulin, and an increase in total protein as the result of adding VEE virus to the complete adjuvants. A decrease in the albumin fraction appeared to be caused by the complete adjuvants rather than by the VEE virus itself. The incomplete adjuvant (without mycobacteria) plus virus contributed little, if any, stimulation toward the production of gamma-globulin, nor did it appear to affect the serum-albumin levels.