Physicochemical and immunodiagnostic characteristics of whole and fractionated somatic extract of Dirofilaria immitis

The protein spectrum of a somatic extract of Dirofilaria immitis was studied. Twenty protein components of different electrophoretic mobility and molecular weight were identified. Gel chromatography of the D. immitis extract revealed 35 protein fractions, six of which exhibited diagnostic efficacy of ELISA. On the basis of specificity indices, one was used for diagnosing dirofilariasis. The fraction includes protein components with a molecular weight of 19.3 and 21. kDa. The sensitivity and specificity of the enzyme immunoassay was respectively 84.0 and 86.4%.