Project Number: 1265-32000-076-26
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: May 01, 2007
End Date: Oct 31, 2009

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to produce diagnostic antigens for use in the epidemiological surveillance of Trichinella infection in pigs in the United States and Europe. A second objective is to isolate LPS O-group antigens from the surface of Salmonella serovars for the purpose of developing a new serological assay to detect serovars predominating in Midwestern U.S.

Approach:
Rats will be orally inoculated with Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae. At 40 days post-inoculation, rats will be euthanized and muscle larvae will be collected from tissues. Muscle larvae will be placed in culture and xcretory/secretory products will be collected, concentrated, and filtered. The concentrated antigen will be lyophilized and stored frozen until used by the cooperator to develop the ELISA. The ELISA will be evaluated and validated by ARS. ARS and the cooperator will work with diagnostic laboratories in the U.S. and Europe to implement proper use of the ELISA test for Trichinella in pigs. New EU legislation and development of herd certification programs in the U.S. and Europe dictate that the ELISA test will be required as an epidemiological tool. The availability of a high quality antigen, such as the ES antigen produced by this ARS laboratory, is critical to implementation of these plans. Salmonella LPS O-group antigens will be isolated from Salmonella serovars by phenol extraction. ELISA will be conducted using sera from pigs infected with specific serovars and validated by titration of LPS to determine optimum dilution of sera and antigen concentration. A Multiplex ELISA will be developed to effectively identify infection with specific serovars common in Midwestern U.S. swine.