tEìgTlNS FOR THE DETEGTION OF lgM ANTIBODIES TO T. GONDII lN THE DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE TOXOPLASMOSIS

I-ectins were labeled with fluoresc€in and tried as conjugates in the immu. nofluorescence (IF) test for the detection of IgM antibodies to T. gondü, in the diagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis. This approach was an attempt to find atternative reagents for a¡rti.human fgM fluorescent conjugates (AHIgMFC), which contain quite frequentþ anaibo'dies to toxopla,sma, as contamina¡¡ts, due to na!ural T. gondii infections among animals used for imunization. Iæntil (Lens culinaris) lectin fluorescence conjugates (LcF€) provided most satisfactory re. sults. Ihe evaluation of LcFC carried out är a total of 179 sera from patients with acute and chronic toxopla'smosis, with non-related infections or healthy subjects, gave high values of relative efficienc¡r, co-positivitJ¡ and co-negativitv indices, respectively 0.989, 0.969 and 1.000, in reference to the conventional AHIgMFIC. Moreover, three batches of LcfC succressive\r prepared gave reproducible test results. Ttre advantage of LaFlC as an alternative reagent for the serodiagnosils of acute toxoplasmosis is supported by practical aspects of its preparation.