Comparison of pseudorabies virus inactivated by bromo-ethylene-imine, 60Co irradiation, and acridine dye in immune assay systems.

Pseudorabies virus infections among animals, especially swine, have become prevalent in the United States in the past few years. The disease in swine is now economically important. Test systems and antigens are being developed for use in control and disease suppression efforts. Pseudorabies virus was inactivated by three methods: chemically, with bromo-ethylene-imine; physically, with 60Co irradiation; and chemically and physically, with 3,9-diaminoacridine dye followed by exposure to white visible light. The antigenicities of the preparations were determined in the presence of specific antibody in immunodiffusion tests and through immunoelectrophoresis. The latter technique permitted quantitation of either antigen or antibody. In the electrophoretic patterns, the antigenic mass in bromo-ethylene-imine preparations was estimated to be 42 mg/ml, the same as in the untreated control material. After 60Co irradiation, 22 mg/ml was present, in comparison with 50 mg/ml in the untreated control antigen. In contrast, 67 mg/ml was present in the acridine dye-light-treated preparation, in comparison with 58 mg/ml in the untreated control material. A possible explanation for the acridine dye-light-treated preparation values is that photodynamic inactivation interferes with viral maturation during the replicative cycle within cells, with a resulting production of a greater amount of antigen, at least some of which is in the form of defective particles.