This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
Dr. P. Halonen, Turku, Finland: I should like to present data obtained in a study by Dr. A. Salmi and myself concerning gel precipitating antigens of rubella virus. With a gel diffusion (GP) technique using an alkaline extracted rubella antigen, at least three virus specific precipitation lines were demonstrated. The precipitating antigens were "soluble"; only traces of GP activities were sedimented by ultracentrifugation. After density gradient centrifugation, the GP activity was in the same fractions as the low density complement fixation (CF) activity, and, after gel filtration (Sephadex G-200), the activity was both in large-particle and small-particle fractions.
The precipitating antibodies appear two weeks or later after the onset of rash. The highest number of GP-lines was seen with serum specimens collected four months after the illness. Among randomly selected sera, only 20% had precipitating antibodies. The occurrence of GP-antibodies was in correlation with the hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) and CF titers.