ABSTRACT
Immunoserological differential diagnosis of Taenia spp. is the major contribution of the present work. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS-PAGE] was used to analyze the protein components of three Taenia extracts prepared from Cysticercus bovis, Taenia saginata and Taenia taeniaeformis. Antigenic components of the three taeniid antigens revealed by [SDS-PAGE] were: [I] Cysticercus bovis cystic fluid antigen: 180, 116, 90, 66, 45, 26, 17 and 10 kD. [II] Taenia saginata excretory secretory antigen [ES]: 198, 180, 146, 116, 55, 45, 35 and 26 kD. [III] Taenia taeniaeformis whole crude antigen 170, 140, 120, 116, 66, 55, 45, 35, 26, 17 and 10 kD. The characterized extracts were used as antigens in Western Blot [WB] technique. Sera from immunized rabbits with Cysticercus bovis fluid antigens were used in detecting a variety of immunogenic bands: [I] Cysticercus bovis: 160, 116, 86, 52, 45, 38 and 29 kD. [II] Taenia saginata: 86, 68 and 10 kD. [III] Taenia taeniaeformis: 170, 116, 86, 68, 52, 45 and 29 kD. The present results suggested that the diagnostic bands by Western Blotare 160 and 38 kD for Cysticercus bovis, 10 kD for Taenia saginata [ES] antigen and 170 kD for Taenia taeniaeformis