Abstract
A simple slide test has been developed which seems to possess certain advantages over previously described serum tests. The stock antigen is stable. Inactivation of serum is unnecessary. The time required to make the test is two minutes. No special laboratory equipment or facilities are required.
Antigen preparation: Fresh veal hearts are selected, and the superficial fat removed. The muscle is ground in a sausage grinder, and spread on paper and dried by an electric fan. After it is completely dried, it is powdered in a mortar and extracted with ether. Four hundred cc. of ether are used to each 100 gm. of powdered heart and allowed to act for ten minutes, shaking frequently. The ether is filtered off and 300 cc. are again added to the heart and treated in the same manner. The heart muscle is again treated with 300 cc. of ether, and again a third time, the ether in each instance being filtered and discarded. The heart muscle is now dried free from ether, and for each gram of muscle, 5 cc. of 95 per cent alcohol is added and maceration is allowed to continue for three days at room temperature, after which the alcohol is filtered off and made up to the original volume with 95 per cent alcohol. This constitutes the defatted alcohol heart extract for the antigen. Six decigrams of cholesterol and 3 cc. of glacial acetic acid are added for each 100 cc. of the alcoholic extract. This is filtered after solution is effected and constitutes the finished special antigen for this test. This antigen seems to be stable for at least several weeks.
Technic: One cc. of antigen is measured into a test tube and 2 cc. of distilled water into a second tube (normal saline can be used, but the solution is unstable).
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