Determination of measles virus-specific nucleocapsid antibodies by means of counterimmunoelectrophoresis.

A counterimmunoelectrophoretic method for quantitative determination of antibodies against measles virus nucleocapsid is described. Unfractionated material from measles virus infected cell cultures was used as antigen, diluted to give only a nucleocapsid-specific precipitate. Purified nucleocapsid and a rabbit hyperimmune serum against this antigen was used to establish the specificity of the test. The measles virus specific antibody titres determined by the method were comparable to those found in nucleocapsid complement fixation tests. It is concluded that the technique described offers a simple and sensitive method to determine nucleocapsid specific antibodies.