activity of superoxide dismutase (sod) enzyme in the excretory-secretory products of fasciola hepatica and f. gigantica parasites.

background: the aim of this study was to compare superoxide dismutase (sod) activity in fasciola hepatica and fasciola gigantica parasites. materials: f. gigantica and f. hepatica helminths were collected from abattoir and cultured in buffer media for 4 h at 37 °c. excretory-secretory (es) products were collected, centrifuged and stored at - 20 ◦ c. e-s protein concentration was measured by bradford method and sod activity was detected using ransod kit (randox lab. crumlin, uk). statistical t -test was conducted for analysis of re-sults. results: protein concentration for f. hepatica and f. gigantica were obtained 7.293 ug/ml and 19.65 ug/ml respectively and sod activity as 0.721 u/ml and 1.189 u/ml , in that order. es protein con-centration of two species was significantly different ( p <0.05), however the difference of sod activi-ty of two species was not significant. conclusion: two species of fasciola have comparable sod biochemical defense enzyme and can help us explain the parasite survival in host tissue.