Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoite antigens elicit immune response in mice.

2003 JUL 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoite antigens elicited protective immune responses in mice.

According to a study from Iran, "excretory secretory antigens (ESA) of Toxoplasma gondii were evaluated in immunization of 8-10 week inbred female BALB/c mice. Tachyzoites of the parasite were cultured in cell-free incubation medium (RPMI-1640), and then supernatant of the medium was loaded on an ion-exchange chromatography column."

"Two fractions (ESA-F[subscript]1 and ESA-F[subscript]2) were collected from the column," reported Ahmad Daryani and colleagues at Ardabil University of Medical Sciences and Tarbiat Modarres University. "For immunization of the mice, 50 were allocated into five groups of 10. The first, second, third, and fourth groups were immunized twice with total-ESA, ESA-F[subscript]1, ESA-F[subscript]2, or toxoplasma lysate antigen (TLA), respectively. The fifth group was selected as a negative control group (non-immunized). The virulent RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii was used to challenge. Delayed-type hypersensitivity responses (DTHs) were measured by intra-footpad injection measuring induration at timed intervals.

"Lymphocyte transformation tests (LTTs) were done on lymph node cells using [[superscript]3H] thymidine incorporation as an indication of reactivity. Peritoneal macrophages from sensitized mice were stimulated and nitric oxide was measured by Griess method. The ESA-F[subscript]1 and ESA-F[subscript]2 fractions were separated on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ...