ALTEX :: Alternatives to Animal Experiments

1998, Supplement

Development of a Cytotoxin Inhibition Test for the Detection of Serum Antibodies against the a-Toxin of Clostridium Septicum

Katja Jansen, Frauke Roth, and Soeren Petzke

Institut fuer Pflanzenbau und Tierproduktion in den Tropen und Subtropen, Bereich Tierhygiene, D-Goettingen

SUMMARY

Clostridium septicum, a spore-forming bacterium of the soil, is the classical causative agent of the malignant edema, a fatal infection. As immunogenic compound, vaccines contain the toxoidized form of the soluble a-toxin, a lethal exoprotein.

A cytotoxin inhibition test based upon cell culture for the detection of toxin neutralizing antibodies was developed as an alternative to the neutralisation test in mice, which has to be done as a measure of quality control according to DAB 10.

Sera derived from cattle that had been vaccinated with a-toxoid-vaccine, and sera from rabbits, from the official quality control of six different clostridial vaccines, were tested.

The in vitro method was able to detect antibodies in the sera of the cows as well as in the sera of the rabbits. The results were reproducible.

Keywords: clostridium septicum, a-toxin, quality control of vaccines, detection of antibodies, cell culture