Detection and differentiation of Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. synoviae antibodies in chicken serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Affinity-purified sheep IgG anti-chicken IgG horseradish peroxidase conjugate was utilized in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect Mycoplasma gallisepticum- and M. synoviae-specific antibodies in chicken sera. Antigen, conjugate and substrate concentrations, and incubation times were adjusted to provide maximum differentiation between positive and negative sera. Use of phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.05% Tween 20 for washing and diluting steps and use of normal sheep serum to make the initial 1:10 serum dilution resulted in optimal differentiation between homologous and heterologous antisera. However, sera known to contain antibodies to M. gallisepticum or M. synoviae gave higher absorbance values with the heterologous antigen than did specific-pathogen-free sera. To reduce the frequency of nonspecific reactions to less than 2%, it was necessary to adjust the threshold absorbance for each antigen according to the known infectious status of the flock. Reproducibility of the assay was maintained by using positive and negative control sera on each plate. Results from 14.2% of the plates tested were rejected, because the endpoint of the positive control serum was more than one dilution from the most common value. Of four strains of M. gallisepticum used as antigens, none was clearly superior to the others in producing maximum titers with a range of M. gallisepticum antisera. However, nonspecific absorbance tended to be less with the S6 strain. The stability of M. gallisepticum-coated plates was maintained for up to 6 months at -8 C or below, whereas M. synoviae-coated plates were stored satisfactorily for 6 months at 4 C or below.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)