THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF THE PAW-SWELLING ACTIVITY OF PERTUSSIS VACCINE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS RESPONSIBLE TOXIC COMPONENTS

Abstract
A method was developed for quantitative determination of the early-appearing mouse paw swelling activity of pertussis vaccine. Mice were inoculated with the vaccine into the left hind paws. The difference in the thicknesses between the inoculated and the uninoculated paws was taken as the swelling response 16 h after inoculation. It was transformed into a logarithmic scale as a response metameter. A linear log dose-log response regression line was obtained over a relatively wide range of doses of the vaccine. No deviation from parallelism was significant among the regression lines of different vaccines tested. The swelling activities relative to that of a reference vaccine of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus combined vaccines recently produced in Japan were determined. The relative activities ranged from 0.6-2.5, being twice the mean width of the 95% confidence interval of the relative activity. The activity significantly correlated with endotoxin and histamine-sensitizing factor (HSF), but not with lymphocytosis-promoting factor. The multiple regression analysis of this relationship suggested that the swelling activity is accounted for by the combined action of endotoxin and HSF. A model experiment with a mixture of the 2 toxins supported this conclusion.

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