[Proteolytic activity of adult worm extracts of Onchocerca volvulus]

Studying proteolytic activity of Onchocerca volvulus (nematode causing "river blindness") shows that it is able to digest a variety of substrates such as: azoalbumine, azocoll and elastin-orcein with specific activity of 0.28, 0.57 and 1.48 mg/hour/mg of extract respectively. These enzymes are active at various pH such as pH 5.0, 8.0 and 10.0 with highest activity at pH 8.0. The effect of specific inhibitors and activators indicates that the extract might contain serine, metallo and thyoproteases. The electrophoresis of the extract on a polyacrylamide gel copolymerized with gelatin shows many proteins with enzymatic activities with molecular weight of 16.6, 43.6, 45.7, 56.2, 60.2, 61.6 and 63.1 KD respectively. The Onchocerca volvulus worm contains proteases of various enzymatic activities: a non specific activity on protein such as on azoalbumin and specific activities on collagen and elastin. These enzymes could play an important role in the survival of parasites in human hosts.