A panel of antigens of muscle larvae of Trichinella spiralis and T. pseudospiralis as revealed by two-dimensional western blot and immunoelectron microscopy.

This study characterized antigens of Trichinella spiralis and T. pseudospiralis muscle larvae recognized by mice infected with the worms. Two-dimensional (2-D) Western blot analysis revealed some profile of antigenic peptides including: (1) molecular weight (MW); (2) isoelectric points (pI), (3) reactivity to well-defined monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and (4) cross-reactivity between the 2 species. Antigenic peptides of T. spiralis consisted of about 100 spots. The MW ranged from 22 to 80 kDa, and pI ranged from 4 to 7. The mAb against TSL-1 stained most of the T. spiralis excretory-secretory (E-S) peptides migrating at 40, 45 and 50 kDa, and the mAb against TSL-4 stained non-E-S peptides. Antigenic peptides of T. pseudospiralis consisted of about 20 to 30 peptide spots. The MW ranged from 25 to 80 kDa, and pI ranged from 4 to 7. The mAb against TSL-1 stained most of the T. pseudospiralis E-S peptides migrating at 35 and 45 kDa, and the mAb against TSL-4 stained non-E-S peptides. Two-dimensional Western blots showed that the E-S products of T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis were highly cross-reactive with each other. The non-E-S peptides were, however, not recognized by T. pseudospiralis-infected sera but were recognized by T. spiralis-infected sera. An immunoelectron microscopical study showed the similar result that stichocyte granules and cuticle surface (known to contain E-S antigen) had cross-reactive antigens between the two species. T. pseudospiralis-infected sera stained very weakly the cuticle inner layers and haemolymph (known to contain non-E-S antigen). This evidence implies that mice infected with T. pseudospiralis do not evoke antibodies against non-E-S antigen at the detectable level.