Valverde Juan Manuel, Rodríguez Karina, Herrera María, Segura Álvaro, Vargas Mariángela, Villalta Mauren, Montero Mavis, Gutiérrez Jose María, León Guillermo
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
Centro de Electroquímica y Energía Química, Escuela de Química, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
Toxicon. 2017 Mar 1;127:106-111. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2017.01.011. Epub 2017 Jan 12.
Adjuvant emulsions are widely used to enhance the antibody response of the animals used as immunoglobulin source for producing antivenoms. Usually, the adjuvant activity of emulsions is attributed both to their ability to trigger "danger" signals from cells in which they induce death, and to form depots from which immunogens are slowly released. However, there is contradictory evidence suggesting that adjuvant activity of emulsions is independent of the dispersion type and the rate of immunogen release. In order to test how physical properties of emulsions, composed of mineral oil and water, affect their ability to enhance the antibody response towards snake venoms, we compared water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions prepared at volume ratios of 70/30, 50/50 or 30/70, a 50/50 oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion, and a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) multiple emulsion. Comparison included their droplet-size, viscosity, rate of immunogen release and ability to enhance the antibody response of mice immunized with the venom of the African viperid snake Echis ocellatus. It was found that all emulsions released a low amount of venom, and that the 50/50 (W/O) and the multiple emulsion (W/O/W) were those that induced the higher anti-venom antibody response. Our results suggest that the ability of emulsions to enhance the anti-venom response is not associated to their ability to form depots from which the venom is slowly released.
佐剂乳剂被广泛用于增强作为抗蛇毒血清生产中免疫球蛋白来源的动物的抗体反应。通常，乳剂的佐剂活性既归因于它们触发细胞“危险”信号（在这些细胞中它们诱导细胞死亡）的能力，也归因于形成免疫原缓慢释放的储存库的能力。然而，有相互矛盾的证据表明乳剂的佐剂活性与分散类型和免疫原释放速率无关。为了测试由矿物油和水组成的乳剂的物理性质如何影响它们增强针对蛇毒的抗体反应的能力，我们比较了以70/30、50/50或30/70的体积比制备的水包油（W/O）乳剂、一种50/50的油包水（O/W）乳剂和一种水包油包水（W/O/W）多重乳剂。比较内容包括它们的液滴大小、粘度、免疫原释放速率以及增强用非洲蝰蛇锯鳞蝰毒液免疫的小鼠的抗体反应的能力。结果发现所有乳剂释放的毒液量都很低，并且50/50（W/O）乳剂和多重乳剂（W/O/W）诱导的抗蛇毒抗体反应更高。我们的结果表明，乳剂增强抗蛇毒反应的能力与其形成毒液缓慢释放的储存库的能力无关。
