| Abstract: | Serums from goats hyperimmunized with Chlamydia psittaci consistently produce antichlamydial fluorescent antibody conjugate of high titer. The titer of the fluorescent antibody conjugate prepared from a given serum correlated well with the titer obtained by agar gel precipitin, but not with the complement fixation. The agar gel precipitin test can be used to predict whether a given serum is satisfactory for use in production of a conjugate for direct fluorescent antibody tests. Serums with an agar gel precipitin titer of 1/8 or higher generally produce a usable fluorescent antibody conjugate. Labeling gamma globulins with fluorescein isothiocyanate at a ratio of 1/150 resulted in satisfactory fluorescent antibody conjugates. Cultures of Vero cells infected with chlamydiae were found to be suitable for titration of the fluorescent antibody conjugates. |
