Use of a pancreatin-trypsin solution for the liquefaction of sputa for routine bacteriological examination.

Technical methodsThe titre of the anti-D was again measured by the albumin replacement method using CcDE phenotyped cells.No loss of avidity or decrease in solubility or titre was detected after testing at intervals throughout 10 years.The activity of the papain-cysteine content ofthe mixture was investigated by using the mixture with an incomplete anti-c serum and testing against R'r, R"r, and rr phenotyped cells suspended in saline.All proved negative when equal volunmes of the mixture and anti-c serum were used but with two drops of the papain-cysteine anti-D mixture (one drop of Low's solution) and one drop of anti-c serum, complete agglutination of the red cells resulted within one hour at 37°C.The anti-c serum was checked to ensure absence of any saline agglutinating anti-c.After testing, the reconstituted material was stored frozen at -20"C except during periods of re-tests.Each ampoule was re-tested three to seven times during the following four weeks.No loss of avidity, titre, or specific- ity was detected.The pH of the reconstituted material was 6-1 but that of the original mixture had not been determined.However, a similar mixture, prepared later, had a pH of 6-3.