PURIFICATION AND CONCENTRATION OF ANTIGENS FOR COMPLEMENT FIXATION BY METHODS OF DIALYSIS, ADSORPTION, AND EXTRACTION.

Antigens were prepared from the culture filtrates of tubercle bacilli and by extraction of washed and dried organisms with organic and aqueous solvents and from tissues of organs showing tuberculous lesions. A comparison of these preparations by means of the complement fixation test showed that the aqueous extracts were most active antigenically. The antigenic activity of the aqueous preparations and also of the slightly active culture filtrates was increased by means of dialysis and adsorption with serum globulin followed by extraction with alcohol and concentration of the alcoholic extract in vacuo.