title: [Study on the effect of formaldehyde on the immunological reactivity and morphology of hepatitis B-antigen (author's transl)].
abstract: Treatment of purified HB-antigen with formaldehyde solution changes its immunological reactivity and its morphology. A decrease in antigen activity by formaldehyde treatment could be demonstrated by radial immunodiffusion and by radioimmunoassay (Fig. 1). Electron microscopic studies revealed a segmentation of tubular HBAg particles into small round forms (Fig. 3) and a shift of the ratio tubular forms: spherical forms in favour of the spherical particles (Table 1). These findings support the hypothesis that 20 nm particles originate from a division of tubular forms. Round forms became smaller after formaldehyde treatment (Fig. 4). The treatment with formaldehyde changed neither the density of HBsAg testes in CsCl gradients, nor the immunologic identity tested in immunodiffusion tests (Fig. 2). All prescribed effects were observed only in the high concentrations of formalin (10 and 1%), whereas in the concentration of 0.1%, which is usually used for inactivations in the development of vaccines, no immunological and morphological changes of the HBAg could be seen.
mesh_terms: D003720:Densitometry; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008968:Molecular Conformation / Q000187:drug effects*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D005557:Formaldehyde
vernacular_title: Untersuchungen über die Wirkung von Formaldehyd auf die immunologische Reaktivität und die Morphologie des Hepatitis B-Antigens.