Immunotherapy of a guinea pig hepatoma with ultrasonically prepared mycobacterial vaccines

Summary Oil-in-water emulsions containing either mycobacterial cell walls (CW) or killed whole cells attached to the oil droplets were prepared by ultrasonication and by a modified grinding procedure. The immunotherapeutic potency of the ultrasonically prepared vaccines was at least as great as that of similar vaccines prepared by emulsification in a tissue grinder. Among the advantages of ultrasonication over grinding for the preparation of mycobacterial cell and cell wall vaccines are simplicity and the ease with which sterility may be maintained. Both the ultrasonic and modified grinding methods are less time-consuming than published procedures for preparing mycobacterial vaccines.