Simple method for rapid and highly sensitive detection of antiviral-antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of small laboratory animals.

A technique is described for the small-scale determination of antibodies in blood and liquor. Small sample volumes of about 3 microliter blood and 15 microliter liquor are sufficient to detect even low antibody titers against different proteins. Thus, for studying the timecourse of antibody titers, repeated examinations of small laboratory animals are possible. The method includes the highly reproducible separation of the antigens in a 45 X 35 X 0.5 mm polyacrylamide gel (6.5%) using the Phast-system (Pharmacia), followed by electrotransfer and immunostaining. The whole procedure takes less than five hours.