Immunoprecipitins in human schistosomiasis detected with adult worm antigens released by 3M KC1

Abstract

Several methods are being applied for solubilizing adult Schistosoma mansoni antigens which may allow their immunochemical characterization and purification. Studies on antigens and immunoprecipitins in schistosome infections have been carried out with homogenized extracts of adult worms and/or larval forms of Schistosoma mansoni in saline (Biguet et al., 1962; Kagan and Norman, 1963; Silva and Ferri, 1965), or water (Kent, 1963). Kusel (1972) studied surface proteins in S. mansoni membrane, treating the worms with 0·5% saponin in 3% calcium chloride. Murrel et al. (1974) compared by immunodiffusion a crude culture antigen with extracts obtained by freeze-thawing of adult worms and by treatment in 3M KCl.