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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1973 March; 25(3): 403-407
Copyright © 1973 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Division of Bacterial Products, Bureau of Biologics, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20852
Department of Biometry, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
ABSTRACT
Endotoxicity of bacterial vaccines was quantitated in mice by using actinomycin D as potentiating agent. The results were compared with those obtained by the mouse weight gain test. The lethality of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide was increased 2,140 times when 12.5 µg of actinomycin D was used. The mean lethal dose values of heated and unheated pertussis vaccines were similar in the actinomycin D enhancement assay, but the unheated vaccine was significantly more toxic in the mouse weight gain test. Acetone-inactivated typhoid vaccine was slightly less toxic than the heat-phenol-inactivated vaccine in both the actinomycin D enhancement assay and mouse weight gain test. Endotoxicity of experimental vaccines prepared by extraction of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains was high as compared with E. coli lipopolysaccharide. The BALB/c mice were about four times more susceptible than the random bred NIH strain mice. The results indicate that the actinomycin D enhancement assay had the advantages of being more sensitive and probably more specific.
1 Present address: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Md. 20014.
2 Present address: Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga. 30333.
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