Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle & Manceaux, 1908)

Zhang, Nian, Wang, Shuai, Wang, Dong, Li, Chaoying, Zhang, Zhenchao, Yao, Zhijun, Li, Tingting, Xie, Qing, Liu, Shiguo & Zhang, Haizhu, 2016, Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection and risk factors in domestic sheep in Henan province, central China, Parasite (Paris, France) 23, pp. 1-5 : 2

Determination of antibodies against T. gondii

Anti- T. gondii antibodies were detected in serum samples by the modified agglutination test (MAT), as described previously [ 1, 11, 44]. T. gondii whole cell antigen (formalin-treated tachyzoites) was purchased from KeraFAST, Inc. (Boston, MA, USA) and was used to detect T. gondii antibodies in deer [ 30] and chickens [ 15] by MAT. This antigen was prepared using the RH strain of Toxoplasma cultivated via human foreskin fibroblast cells in culture and the collected tachyzoites were killed by treatment with 6% formaldehyde for at least 16 hours. In brief, twofold dilutions of sera from 1:25 to 1:3200 were performed using the serum diluting buffer, and agglutination was performed in U-bottom 96-well microtiter plates using a mixture of 50 µL antigen and 50 µL diluted sera. The plates were incubated at 37 °C overnight. The test was considered positive when a layer of agglutinated parasites was formed in wells at dilutions of 1:25 or higher based on previous studies [ 2, 8]. Positive and negative controls were included in each test.