Quantitative and qualitative change in production of excretions/secretions byLitomosoides cariniiduring development in the jird (Meriones unguiculatus)

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Abstract
Excretions and secretions (E–S) were collected from a series of developmental stages of Litomosoides carinii maintained in vitro. Measurement of the protein content of E–S obtained from each stage indicates that the rate of production of E–S varies enormously during development of the worm. E–S was iodinated using both Iodogen and the Bolton and Hunter Reagent and was also biosynthetically labelled by incubating worms in the presence of [35S]methionine and [3H]leucine. Attempts to biosynthetically label E–S of mature worms and microfilariae with [3H]glucose were unsuccessful. Examination of radio-isotope labelled E–S by SDS–PAGE revealed that some components were sex specific and that the differences in total E–S production during development were due to the existence of both stage-specific components and components whose rate of release varied during parasite maturation. Antigenic characterization of E–S, carried out by immunoprecipitation in combination with SDS–PAGE, indicated that E–S consists of immunogenic components, a molecule which is probably a non-immunogenic parasite product, and host albumin. The implications of these findings for the construction of diagnostic tests to detect products of human filarial parasites are discussed.