Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with purified Trypanosoma cruzi excreted superoxide dismutase
Héctor Mateo1, Manuel Sánchez-Moreno, Clotilde Marín
1Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
Objectives:
Purification and biochemical characterization of a highly immunogenic extracellular superoxide dismutase of Trypanosoma cruzi Maracay strain.
Design And Methods:
Fractionation with ammonium sulphate (35-85%) and two continuous chromatography processes (ion exchange and filtration).
Results:
The molecular mass of the excreted SOD purified was 25 kDa and the isoelectric point 3.9. This enzyme was validated by ELISA with the polyclonal sera obtained from Balb-C mice and with sera from 222 chagasic patients from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru plus 20 sera corresponding to leishmaniasis from Peru. All the sera from Brazil stored since 1980 were positive, 93% were positive in chronic patients with 10 years of Chagas treatment from Chile, and 87% of the patients with pace-makers in a chronic phase from Colombia.
Conclusions:
In comparison with the IFA test, the ELISA-SODe-CRU yield was 85.59% sensitivity and specificity 100%. This method may be helpful for the diagnosis of Chagas disease.
Related Concept Videos
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
There are many different types of ELISAs, but they all involve an antibody molecule whose constant region binds an enzyme, leaving the variable region free to bind its specific antigen. Enzyme-substrate reaction allows the antigen to be visualized or quantified.
American Trypanosomiasis
Antiprotozoal Agents

