Evaluation of three 'ready to formulate' oil adjuvants for foot-and-mouth disease vaccine production

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) type OR(2)/75, grown on BHK 21 clone 13 cell monolayers, was inactivated with formalin. The virus was clarified and was either concentrated with 8% polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG) or used in its untreated form for the preparation of oil adjuvant vaccines. The oil adjuvants used in this study were Montanide ISA 206 (which renders a water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) type of emulsion), Montanide ISA 57 and Montanide ISA 50V (both of which render water-in-oil (w/o) type of emulsions). The vaccines were tested on guinea pigs and calves. The results indicated that vaccines emulsified using Montanide ISA 57 elicited the best protective immune response in the animals, followed by those emulsified with Montanide ISA 50V and Montanide ISA 206. It was also found that vaccines formulated with virus concentrated using 8% polyethylene glycol (PEG) were more immunogenic than the vaccines formulated with the untreated harvest virus.