Evaluation of Antibody Response to Various Developmental Stage Specific Somatic Antigens of Paramphistomum epiclitum in Goats

Electrophoretic analysis of various developmental stage specific somatic antigens of Paramphistomum epiclitum (Digenea: Paramphistomidae), namely, metacercariae (McAg), immature intestinal flukes (ImIAg), immature ruminal flukes (ImRAg), and adult flukes (AAg), was done by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Result revealed presence of 3 (range 15.2-40.3 kDa), 13 (9.3-121.2 kDa), 14 (9.3-169.3 kDa), and 15 (8.0-169.3 kDa) polypeptides in McAg, ImIAg, ImRAg, and AAg, respectively. With an aim to identify a suitable immunodiagnostic antigen for early diagnosis of amphistomosis, the IgG antibody response to various developmental stage antigens in goats experimentally infected with metacercariae of P. epiclitum was evaluated by ELISA. The highest OD values were recorded with ImIAg which ranged between 0.23 and 0.55 with a significant increase from the 2nd week till 8th week of infection with a peak at 6th week. The analysis of statistical significance using a one-way analysis of variance with multiple pair wise comparisons revealed that IgG response was significantly higher with all antigens (P < 0.01) except McAg (P > 0.05) with a maximum mean difference of 0.1838 in comparison to control with ImIAg, thus, indicating that ImIAg which could be further exploited for its potential is a candidate for immunodiagnostic antigen for early diagnosis of amphistomosis.