The Formation of Complement Fixing and Neutralizing Antibodies After the Injection of Inactivated Rabies Virus with Adjuvants

Sera containing complement fixing antibodies of high titer may be useful to identify and measure the antigenic components in rabies vaccines, particularly for the study of fractions such as are obtained during purification. The demonstration of complement fixing antibodies against neurotropic viruses had been reported (1) but it remained for Casals and Palacios (2) to improve the technique making such a test practical. These authors prepared antigens which were not anticomplementary, determined the temperature and period of time for inactivation of sera and developed a method of immunization to produce sera of high titer. With regard to rabies virus, they have found that both in the rabbit and the guinea pig complement fixing antibodies can be prepared by a long series of injections of active virus preceded by several injections of inactivated virus (suspension of homologous brain containing fixed virus).