The plaque and quantal methods for assaying poliovirus neutralizing activity yield a non-linear relationship due to antibody inhomogeneity.
Non-linear plaque-quantal assay relationships warrant caution in poliovirus neutralization data interpretation; leaves open need for method-specific standards.
Sera from two rabbits bled after one, two and three inoculations of concentrated type 1 poliovirus tissue culture fluid were assayed for neutralizing activity by a quantal and a plaque method. The plaque counts in these tests have been shown to approximate to a Poisson distribution as determined by the relationship between the variance and the mean of replicate counts. However, there is a considerable scatter of the points in such a comparison and this accounts for the absence of the expected increase in accuracy of this plaque method over the quantal. The relationship between the antibody content of the sera determined by the two methods is non-linear. This can be attributed to inhomogeneity of the antibody produced which increases with the number of antigenic stimuli given.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Paul G. Higgins (1965) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: