Improvement of arbovirus HA antigens by treatment with a colloidal silica gel and sonication

A remarkable increase in HA titers for weakly haemagglutinating Norwegian arbovirus strains, Uukuniemi and Runde viruses, was achieved by including treatment with the colloidal silica gel Aerosil in the antigen preparation scheme. By combining this procedure with sonication, the titers of sucrose-aceton extracted, infected suckling mouse brains could be increased several hundred times. Good antigens also were obtained from virus grown in BHK 21/c 13 cell cultures and concentrated by polyethylene glycol 6000/NaCl. Rubella virus HA antigen and HB(s)Ag were adsorbed to the gel, and excluded from a preparation by treatment with Aerosil. This indicates a limitation to the universal use of the method, presumably related to the particle size.