The dessication of serum and other protein solutions : with special reference to the reagents used in the Wassermann Reaction / by P. Hartley, A.J. Eagleton, and C.C. Okell.

  • Hartley, Percival Horton-Smith, Sir, 1867-
Date:
[1923?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The dessication of serum and other protein solutions : with special reference to the reagents used in the Wassermann Reaction / by P. Hartley, A.J. Eagleton, and C.C. Okell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    complement, when reconstructed with water, behaves in all respects like fresh guinea-pig serum and is equally susceptible to heat. Complement six months old, in appropriate dosage, has been used satisfactorily in the Wassermann reaction and other haemolytic tests. It is believed that these dried reagents for haemolytic tests may prove of considerable use in routine work. Dried horse haemolysin appears to be in every way as satisfactory as fluid haemolysin for complement fixation tests, and it has the additional advantage of much greater stability. By using dried positive and negative Wassermann sera, control sera of exactly the same activity can be included in the tests over a prolonged period of time. Dried guinea-pig serum provides a means by which active complement will stand postal transit and can be made available to workers who are unable to obtain fresh guinea-pig serum, and although we do not claim that dried complement possesses all the advantages of fresh guinea-pig serum, it can at least be made to give perfectly dependable Wassermann results when properly used. In particular, we hope that these dried reagents may prove of use to isolated workers in the tropics, and other places where the difficulties of obtaining and keeping Wassermann reagents are great. Quite apart from this, the possibility of obtaining in a relatively stable form so many of the Wassermann reagents, including complement, should prove of considerable service in the standardisation of the Wassermann reaction and in other haemolytic research. Summary and Conclusions. (1) Serum, and other reagents of bacteriological and immunological importance, can be dried with little or no loss of their specific properties. (2) With the exception of complement, most of the reagents investigated can be conveniently dried by a modification of Martin’s method. (3) Guinea-pig serum can be dried successfully in a good desiccator, and the complement activity of the dried product is relatively stable. (4) Horse haemolysin and positive Wassermann sera are very stable when dried. (5) Dried haemolysin, positive and negative Wassermann sera and complement may prove of value to isolated workers and to those engaged in research work, particularly on the subject of standardisation of the Wassermann reaction.