Biotechnology Dept., Reference Laboratory for Veterinary Quality Control on Poultry Production, Animal Health Research Institute, Nadi El-Seid St., P.O. Box 246, Dokki, Giza 12618, Egypt

Abstract

To improve the efficacy of the inactivated rabies virus vaccine and vaccination of dogs and cats against rabies virus disease, ginsenoside Re was extracted from Panax ginsing used as adjuvant to rabies vaccine in different concentrations: 1.25, 2.50 and 5.00 mg/kg wt. This work included dogs and cats divided into eight groups of which five groups were vaccinated with inactivated rabies virus vaccine adjuvanted by ginsenoside Re. The 6th group was vaccinated with inactivated rabies vaccine adjuvanted by aluminum hydroxide gel (20%). On the other hand, the 7th group was inoculated by ginsenoside Re subcutaneously and the 8th group was left unvaccinated as control. It was revealed that ginsenoside Re is safe and did not show any clinical signs. Estimation of humoral immune response of vaccinated animals via indirect ELISA and serum neutralization test (SNT) revealed that vaccinated animals acquired rabies antibodies with high protective level by using ginsenoside Re as adjuvant. The obtained results were compared with those induced by the traditional gel vaccine. It was found that the use of Ginsenoside-Re could reduce the required protective dose and subsequently increase production rate. From these results, it could be concluded that ginsenoside-Re could be used as adjuvant to inactivated rabies virus vaccine.