STANDARDIZATION OF ANTIVENINE I. A METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF ANTILETHAL POTENCY OF HABU ANTIVENINE

Attempts were made to establish an authentic method for assay of the antilethal potency of Habu antivenine. In spite of its wide use the expression of the antivenine potency in “animal animal unit” is not reasonable. The expression of the antivenine potency as the relative potency is not valid either so far as a crude venom is used as test toxin, since the neutralization curves of various antivenines with the crude venom are not always parallel with each other. By using the main lethal fraction of the venom as test toxin, however, the antivenine potency can be successfully determined as the relative potency to the standard antivenine using the parallel line assay method.