Study on pattern of Neospora caninum tachyzoite proteins by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting in aborted cows

The intracellular parasite Neospora caninum is prevalent in several countries and is increasingly recognized as an important cause of abortion and stillbirth in cattle. For characterizeing the tachyzoite antigens of Neospora caninum in aborted cows, sera were obtained from 116 cows which were aborted in the third semester of the pregnancy period and had antibodies to Neospora caninum in ELISA. To obtain the protein content of Neospora, purified tachyzoites were lysed, electrophoretically separated and blotted to nitrocelloluse membrane for immunostaining. Minimum 9 and maximum 13 protein bands ranging from 10 to 90 kDa were observed after immunostaining. It seems that, in almost all of the cows, two protein bands with a molecular weight of 45 and 41 kDa, have a prominent reaction in Western blotting. According to our findings, these two protein bands are the most important antigens observed after Western blotting, in seropositive aborted cows.