Conjugation and Characterization of Latex Nanoparticles with Toxoplasma gondii-Specific IgY Antibodies for Diagnostic Aim and Evaluation Efficiency in In Vitro Culture

Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that causes severe health problems in the world. This parasitic disease causes mortality in immunodeficiency, transplantation and cancer patients. Besides that, it causes miscarriages in pregnancy, various abnormalities such as hydrocephalus in infants and congenital diseases. Since the clinical indication of the disease is not specific, it is confused with many diseases, and this leads to the necessity of directly detecting the presence of the toxoplasmosis. So, various diagnostic assays are needed for the diagnosis of the disease. Amongs them , latex agglutination assays, is widely used for the detection of specific antibodies or antigens in samples. Latex particles are coated with immunogenic molecules (antigens) to detect antibodies in the blood or used to identify antigens when coated with specific antibodies. In both, aggregation of latex particles results with agglutination. Monoclonal antibodies are often used for latex agglutination assay as in other diagnostic methods. However, monoclonal antibodies can be produced in low quantities at a high cost. Besides, to produce these monoclonal antibodies, an experienced staff, a well-equipped cell culture laboratory, a long-term and a burdened budget are needed. In recent years, as an alternative to monoclonal antibodies, IgY antibodies, which are obtained from chicken eggs, and specifically produced against desired antigenic constructs, have become quite attractive in terms of both low cost and abundant production without requiring infrastructure. In contrast, the latex assay based on IgY antibodies for use in the diagnosis of T. gondii has not been developed. For this reason, this study aimed to conjugate Toxoplasma gondii-specific IgY antibodies to latex particles, characterize by FTIR, SEM and spectroscopic methods, and demostrate the interaction with T.gondii parasites in culture with SEM microscopy.