[A spectrophotometric method of determining the cytotoxic activity of HBsAg-sensitized lymphocytes]

The authors describe a modification of the method for measuring the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes sensitized to HBsAg; this modification is based on spectrophotometry of the cytotoxic reaction products. The procedure consists in preliminary conjugation of target cells (native sheep red cells) with HBsAg with the use of chromium chloride, isolation of effector cells (lymphocytes) from the peripheral blood of viral hepatitis patients, co-incubation of effector cells with target cells, and spectrophotometric analysis of the incubation mixture supernatant. Optimal conditions have been selected for the conjugation of native sheep red cells with HBsAg with the use of CrCl3 and spectrophotometric analysis with orthophenylenediamine as chromogen. Clinical trials of the method were carried out. The studies have shown a rise of the HBsAg-sensitized lymphocytes cytotoxic activity in the patients during the acute period of medium-severity or protracted viral hepatitis B.