The use of various immunochemical, biochemical and biological methods for the analysis of rabies virus production in tissue cultures.

For the preparation of rabies vaccines, virus was grown in cultures of primary cells (bovine fetal kidney) or heteroploid cell lines (Hak and Vero). Comparative analysis of concentrated and/or purified antigen has shown a good correlation between the protective capacity (as determined by the NIH test for potency) on one hand, and hemagglutinating titer, optical absorbance at 280 nm and glycoprotein content (evaluated by the Enzyme-Immuno Assay - EIA) on the other. Furthermore, the evaluation of the respective content of glycoprotein and nucleoprotein (EIA) before and after impairment of viral membrane can be done to know if the rabies glycoprotein is anchored in an intact membrane or not (soluble glycoprotein).

Zonal centrifuge purification of human rabies vaccine obtained on bovine fetal kidney cells. Biological results.

An inactivated human rabies vaccine prepared on bovine fetal kidney cells is concentrated and purified by zonal centrifugation. The peak of rabies particles is monitored by hemagglutination. Immunogenicity of the purified particles was evaluated by titration of specific antibodies from vaccinated animals.