Background and purpose: Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease with a worldwide distribution which is caused by Toxoplasma gondii. It can infect various cells of human and approximately all animals. The current study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii in sheep from rural areas of Tabriz by Western blot and Dot blot assays in which T. gondii soluble antigen was reacted with antibodies raised in serum samples of sheep.
Materials and methods: From October 2012 to April 2013, a total of 186 blood samples were collected from sheep (93 ewes and 93 rams) rural areas of Tabriz. Initially, the sera were separated and evaluated to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis by Dot blot assay. Then, positive serum samples were evaluated by Western blot assay in order to final confirmation of infection and observation of 30 KDa specific bands.
Results: Based on Dot blot assay, the seroprevalence rate in the sheep from rural areas of Tabriz was 9.14%. The seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis was higher in ewes (11.83%) than that of rams (6.45%). However, this difference was not statistically significant (P> 0.05). The patterns of Western blot assay on all positive sera were manifested as distinct 30 KDa bands.
Conclusion: In this study, no distinct difference was observed on the antigen/protein bands pertaining to infected samples and the proteins with 30 KDa molecular weight and those being smaller than 10 KDa were identified as the immunogenic proteins of T. gondii tachyzoites strain RH.