Abstract
Studies were carried out to investigate the sensitivity to 2-Mercaptoethanol (2-ME) of swine hemagglutintion-inhibition antibody against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) using swine which were raised at the Zootechnical Experimental Station at Fukuoka. The results obtained are as follows.
(1) In the case of natural infection, 2-ME sensitive antibodies were detected during the first 3 or 4 weeks of antibody response; thereafter the antibodies were found to be resistant to 2-ME treatment.
(2) Maternal antibodies found in piglet were found to be resistant to 2-ME treatment. As long as the piglet had detectable amount of maternal antibodies, their titers were stationary even when the piglet should have been infected by JEV.
(3) Vaccination studies revealed that the antibodies were 2-ME resistant when the swine already had anti-JEV antibody; when they had no detectable antibody, the first antibodies produced after the vaccination were found to be 2-ME sensitivity and they became 2-ME resistant after having the opportunity of natural infection.
