A study of foot-and-mouth disease virus strains by complement fixation: I. A model for the fixation of complement by antigen/antibody mixtures

SUMMARYAn examination was made of the relations between antigen, antibody and fixation of complement with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). It was found that complement fixation in this system follows the same principles as models developed in other antigen/antibody systems. The assumption that there is a relation of direct proportionality between the amount of complement fixed and the amount of antiserum reacting with constant antigen was found to be incorrect. An alternative method was proposed for the quantitative differentiation of FMDV strains by comparing the titres of an antiserum when reacting with optimum amounts of homologous or heterologous antigens.