The Effect of Unheated Normal Bovine Serum on the Complement-Fixing Activity of Heat Inactivated Bovine Antiserum with Homologous Antigen

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Abstract
Summary: Fresh unheated normal bovine serum has been fractionated by dialysis against phosphate buffer, pH 5.0 to 6.2 and ionic strength 0.02, and the fractions tested for supplementing activity in complement fixation tests of two bovine antibody-antigen systems, an antibacterial and an antiviral. These bovine antisera in the dilution used did not fix guinea pig complement in the presence of homologous antigen but showed strong fixation when the guinea pig complement was made up with diluted unheated normal bovine serum. The precipitates obtained from the normal bovine serum as dialysis proceeded for 1 to 24 hr showed an increase in supplementing titer whereas the supernatants became progressively less active. The nonspecific complement-fixing activity with tissue extracts or other antigens remained in the supernatant. Precipitates formed during 18 to 24 hr of dialysis were sometimes anticomplementary, particularly those from pools of sera from adult cattle.

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