SEROLOGICAL ANALYSIS BY A60 ANTIGEN ELISA AND BCG IMMUNOBLOTTING IN DOMESTIC CARNIVORES EXPERIMENTALLY VACCINATED WITH MYCOBACTERIUM-BOVIS BCG

The serological response to Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccination was st udied in 3 cats, 3 dogs and 3 puppies. The animals received two doses of 0,1 mg of BCG and were studied over a period of 8 months simultaneo usly by ELISA with antigen A60 (Anda Biologicals, Strasbourg, France) and immunoblotting with BCG. The two methods detected an increase of a ntibodies at 3 or 5 weeks. In the cats, specific antibody titer remain ed high and stable for more than one year, in the dogs they diminished quickly within 23 weeks. Carnivores elicit a serological response aga inst specific protein antigens in the bands corresponding to 18 and 25 kDa, 30 and 45kDa, and especially 35 and 42kDa bands, and to minor ban ds at higher molecular weight. Non-specific bands at 50-55 kDa and 70 kDa, assigned to heat shock proteins, were enhanced by BCG vaccination . Cat immunsera recognized on A60 immunoblots the specific homologous bands at 20-25 kDa and 32 kDa, but also two other dominant bands: one was partially specific (65 kDa) and the other was absent from the M. b ovis and M. paratuberculosis profiles. The suitablity of A60 ELISA for detection of mycobacterial infection in carnivores may be highlighted by immunoblot analysis.