BOVINE CYSTICERCOSIS - DEMONSTRATION IN EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED CALVES OF SERUM IGG ANTIBODIES REACTIVE WITH NEUTRAL GLYCOLIPIDS OF TAENIA-SAGINATA AND T-CRASSICEPS METACESTODES

The immunoreactivity of Taenia saginata and T. crassiceps metacestode neutral glyco(sphingo)lipids towards IgG antibodies derived from the s era of calves with experimental cysticercosis has been established. Th e glyco(sphingo)lipids are separable by normal-phase HPTLC (high-perfo rmance thin-layer chromatography) into groups of increasing sugar-chai n length (lipid/ceramide mono-, di-, tri-, tetra- and >tetrasaccharide s), with those corresponding to three and four hexoses being the main immunoreactive components (HPTLC immunostaining). In ELISA (enzyme-lin ked immunosorbent assay), reverse-phase HPTLC-isolated T. crassiceps m etacestode glyco(sphingo)lipids equivalent to tri- and tetrahexoside a llowed a discrimination between non-infected and infected calves (at l east 80 metacestodes recovered). The formation of IgG antibodies was c orrelated with the infection, not with other non-specific inducing fac tors, as seen by the differential humoral response detected in experim entally infected (T. saginata) calves before and after Praziquantel tr eatment (HPTLC immunostaining and ELISA).