AlumVax Hydroxide Adjuvants

Recommendations before starting:

The inoculum should be free of extraneous microbial contamination; filtration of the antigen before mixing with the adjuvant is recommended.

Preparation of AlumVax hydroxide-immunogens mix is easier than other adjuvants as it does not require laborious emulsification.

1. Ensure complete re-suspension of AlumVax hydroxide adjuvant by vigorous shaking of the vial before use.
2. Dilute antigen mixture in saline buffer or phosphate buffer for a final immunogen concentration of 10-100 µg/100 µL.

3. Mix AlumVax hydroxide adjuvant with an equal volume of antigen solution for a 1:1 ratio:

   • Add AlumVax hydroxide dropwise with constant mixing to the immunogen solution.
   • Pipet up and down several times to ensure correct absorption of antigen by alum adjuvant and incubate 5 to 10 minutes.
   NOTE: Ratio can be optimized from 1:1 (100µL adjuvant per 100µL antigen) to 1:9 (100µL adjuvant per 900µL antigen)
4. Inject into the animal according to the table below; the volume depends on the site of injection. Typical routes of administration include subcutaneous (SC), intramuscular (IM), intradermal (ID) or intraperitoneal (IP).

∆ Not recommended in general, in particular not for viscous adjuvants

× Not recommended for pAb production

Table 1: Maximum volumes for injection of immunogen/adjuvant mixtures per site of injection for different animal species (Adapted from Leenars MPPA, Hendriksen CFM et al., 1999).