Efficacy of Purified Glutathione -S- Transferee in Providing Protection against Haemonchus Contortus Infection in Sheep

Abstract

The efficacy of purified glutathione-s-transferase (GST) to protect sheep against haemonchosis was assessed. Fifteen lambs, 3.5-5month-old, were bisected into five groups (n=3). Two groups were vaccinated with 250μg of each prepared antigen (crude adult antigen (CAA), purified GST) in combination with mineral oil adjuvant at zero, 14th days of the experiment. The other three groups were kept as control groups; non-immunized infected, non-immunized non-infected and adjuvant control. One week after the last booster dose, the lambs in all groups except control negative were challenged with 400 L3/kg live weight orally. Protein characterization of each antigen was done by SDS-PAGE and immunoblting. The vaccine efficacy was estimated by the fecal egg count, where the vaccinated groups showed 58.90% and 79.38% reduction in eggs in CAA and GST respectively. Moreover, 31.45% and 92.10% reduction in abomasal worm count was reported in CAA and GST vaccinated lambs, respectively. The protection was found corresponsive to the sera antibody levels in the immunized groups. It was concluded that the GST had protective efficacy against <i>H. contortus</i> infection in lambs.