Antibody responses correlate with antigen dose and in vivo protection for oil-adjuvanted, experimental furunculosis (Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida) vaccines in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and can be used for batch potency testing of vaccines.

Salmon farming has increased dramatically over last thirty years and a key to the success is the introduction of protective vaccines. In Norway, almost 100% of all Atlantic salmon are vaccinated prior to sea transfer. This extensive use of vaccines demands use of a lot of resources in production and quality control of vaccines, and fish are now one of the most widely used laboratory animal species in Norway, since all batch testing today is performed by challenge experiments. With an increasing focus on the 3 R's (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement), new methods are needed. The aim of this study was to assess the use of different vaccine evaluation methods to identify furunculosis vaccines of different "potency", using ELISA as in vitro assay and intraperitoneal and cohabitation challenge as in vivo assays. Eleven vaccines with different antigen content (0, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 100 and 200%) and different antigen qualities were included in the study. Challenge and blood sampling for the ELISA assay were conducted 9 weeks post vaccination. The results from this study indicated that there is a close correlation between the antigen dose in the vaccine and the antibody response against Aeromonas salmonicida as measured by ELISA. There is also a close correlation between the antibody response and protection for both i.p. and cohabitation challenge models. The ELISA method identified sub-potent batches better than currently used in vivo assay (i.p challenge) and seems to be the best method of performing a batch potency test of furunculosis vaccines particularly when taking the 3R's principles into account.