An assay for adjuvanticity

Abstract

Adult mice injected with an adequate amount of a non-immunogenic antigen progress to a specific state of immunological paralysis, unless a substance with `extrinsic' adjuvanticity is injected before the induction of paralysis is completed. Consequently incipiently paralysed mice can be used to assay substances for adjuvanticity. Conventional adjuvants such as Freund's adjuvant and pertussis possess adjuvanticity; other substances with varying degrees of adjuvanticity are listed in the tables. It has been shown that the adjuvanticity effect of an injection of pertussis lasts for only a few days, although the effect of such an injection of pertussis on phagocytosis of carbon particles does not reach a maximum until 2 weeks after the injection. The dose-effectiveness of alum precipitated (highly phagocytosable) bovine γ-globulin was greatly increased by the intraperitoneal injection of pertussis. The evidence is considered to be incompatible with increased phagocytosis being either an essential factor in the role of pertussis as a conventional adjuvant, or in the adjuvanticity effect of pertussis.