title: Quality control of Toxoplasma gondii in meat packages: standardization of an ELISA test and its use for detection in rabbit meat cuts.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii causes severe disease both to man and livestock and its detection in meat after slaughtering requires PCR or biological tests. Meat packages contain retained exudate that could be used for serology due to its blood content. Similar studies reported false negative assays in those tests. We standardized an anti-T. gondii IgG ELISA in muscle juices from experimentally infected rabbits, with blood content determination by cyanhemoglobin spectrophotometry. IgG titers and immunoblotting profiles were similar in blood, serum or meat juice, after blood content correction. These assays were adequate regardless of the storage time up to 120 days or freeze-thaw cycles, without false negative results. We also found 1.35% (1/74) positive sample in commercial Brazilian rabbit meat cuts, by this assay. The blood content determination shows ELISA of meat juice may be useful for quality control for toxoplasmosis monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Protozoologia do Instituto de Medicina Tropical da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 470, 05403-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. juliana.mecca@usp.br
authors.forename: Juliana Nunes
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Mecca
authors.forename: Luciana Regina
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Meireles
authors.forename: Heitor Franco
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: de Andrade
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001938:Brazil; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005511:Food Handling; D005513:Food Inspection / Q000379:methods*; D018857:Food Packaging; D016266:Food Parasitology; D005519:Food Preservation; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D008460:Meat / Q000469:parasitology*; D008461:Meat Products / Q000469:parasitology; D055550:Protein Stability; D011786:Quality Control; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D006454:Hemoglobins; C011207:cyanhemoglobin