Assay of arbovirus neutralizing antibody by micro methods

Abstract
Efficient, reproducible and specific neutralizing antibody assays are needed, particularly for use in arboviral studies in areas where antigenic cross reactions make serological interpretation difficult. Accordingly, 2 methods were developed for this purpose. A micrometabolic inhibition (MMI) test with BHK-21 cells in disposable “U”-bottomed microtitre plates was used with Japanese encephalitis, Wesselsbron, Sindbis, chikungunya and Batai viruses. The MMI test was highly specific, of efficiency comparable with the haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test, and was very sparing of reagents and sera. Although equal to or better in sensitivity than conventional cell culture neutralization tests, it was not as sensitive as HI or plaque-reduction neutralization (PRN) tests.

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