Toxoplasma gondii: Large-scale purification by zonal density gradient centrifugation

This study shows the feasibility of using density gradient centrifugation in the “A” zonal rotor for large-scale purification of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites from the host cells of mouse peritoneal exudate. Ficoll and Dextran 40 were used as gradients. Using Ficoll gradient, up to 70% of the toxoplasms were recovered by pooling purified fractions with the peak fractions giving recoveries around 38%. In the experiment using dextran gradients Toxoplasma recovery was of 41%, but the band of host cells was not so sharply formed.