Evaluation of antigenicity of hydatic cyst and its protoscolexes by designing a new double immunodiffusion test

There are various methods to diagnosis of hydatic cyst. Serological methods based on tracing special antigens have high sensitivity، but the first need to design the kits based on serological methods is having enough amount of appropriate antibody against hydatic cyst antigens. Hydatic cyst antigens and parasite protoscolexes prepared from sheep liver samples were injected to rabbits to obtain polyclonal antibodies. Injections were done five times both subcutaneously and intracutanously. We designed a double immunodiffusion test to compare antigenicity of two antigen groups as well as measurement of generated antibody levels. The least level obtained in both groups was from the first (dilution 1/1)، and the highest level was from the last prepared sample after injection (dilution 1/16). Furthermore، mean generated antibody level in all examinations obtained 11/20 for the first group and 9/20 for the second group. By comparing the results of the studied groups، it could be concluded that antigenicity of protoscolexes are more than hydatic cyst fluid. So the antibodies against parasite protoscolexes could be used in investigations including molecular studies، and after purification and conjugation with appropriate enzyme، it also could be used to design rapid diagnostic ELISA kits