Isolation and Characterization of Immunodiagnostic Antigen from Strongylus vulgaris Infecting Horses

Isolation of immunodiagnostic fraction from Strongylus vulgaris adult worms was described by CNBr-Sepharose 4B affinity column chromatography. The isolation process resulted in a fraction with 2161.5 fold increase in binding activity compared to its crude extract. Characterization of the isolated fraction by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing showed that the fraction consists of only two bands of 39 and 31 KDa with isoelectric points of 6.8 and 6.7. Comparative evaluation of the immunogenic binding activities of the crude extract, unbound and bound fractions by ELISA proved the potency of the bound fraction over the other two antigens. Diagnosis of S. vulgaris infection in horses by ELISA in which the bound fraction was utilized, recorded high infection percentage (73.7) as compared with the parasitological examination (27.6). The isolated fraction in the current study could be utilized successfully in the diagnosis of S. vulgaris infection using ELISA, particularly in the prepatent period.