evaluation of echinococcus granulosus coproantigens by dot-blotting in dogs

definitive hosts of the echinococcus granulosus (e. granulosus ) parasite are carnivores such as dogs,wolves and foxes. detection of this parasite through faecal examination is not possible. in this study, dotblotting test for e. granulosus -specific coproantigens has been evaluated in dog. three 2–3-month-old puppies were treated with piperazine and then faecal samples were collected as pre-infection samples. seven days later, hydatid cysts from livers and lungs of sheep were fed to the puppies. faecal samples were collected weekly for five weeks as post-infection samples. soluble protein of pre- and post-infection faecal samples were prepared and dot-blotting test was conducted. in parallel experiments, the presence of e.granulosus eggs and also dot-blotting test were evaluated in 15 faecal samples of dogs collected from razi veterinary hospital in mashhad. for the detection of protein bands in pre-infection and fifth-week postinfection samples, polypeptide profile was analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page). the results showed that incremental spot colours was observed in samples of experimentally infected dogs collected from the first to fifth post-infection weeks. in dot-blot analysis of faecal samples in 15 dogs, 4 samples were positive, and also these four samples were positive for e.granulosus eggs. in sds-page, one band in pre-infection and four bands in fifth-week post-infection samples were observed. the molecular weight of pre-infection sample of experimentally infected dogs was 16 kda and the molecular weights of the samples collected five weeks post-infection were 14, 22, 36 and 45 kda, respectively. in conclusion, the results of this experiment showed that the dot-blotting method does not produce a reliable outcome. for evaluation of the specific coproantigens of e. granulosus  in dogs, coproantigen-elisa test is needed.