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Infective hookworm larvae of Ancylostoma caninum showed chemotaxis on agar plates in a dog serum gradient. This chemotactic behaviour remain unaltered using an ultrafiltrated serum fraction with a molecular weight less than 500. Gelfiltration of this ultrafiltrated fraction revealed a factor with a molecular weight of 480 causing chemotaxis. The chemotactic activity of the factor was destroyed after a pronase treatment. We conclude that the factor could be a polypeptide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infective hookworm larvae of Ancylostoma caninum showed chemotaxis when applied on agar plates in a dog serum gradient. The factor(s) that caused this chemotaxis was thermostable and dialysable against PBS. Using ultrafiltration to separate dog serum in several fractions each with a different molecular weight, it was shown that the factor(s) causing chemotaxis had a molecular weight less than 500 Dalton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the indirect fluorescent antibody technique to the infective stages of the hookworm Ancylostoma caninum, it appeared that they do not show IgG antibody binding when serum from dogs infected with A. caninum was used in the test (antiserum). However, inhibiting these stages metabolically with azide or with low temperatures, IgG antibody binding to the outer surface was observed. When the inhibitory factors were removed, shedding of fluorescent substances was seen, which were obviously coming from the outer surface of the larvae. This suggests that shedding of the antigen might occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Technique (IFAT) and the Indirect Immuno Peroxidase Technique (IIPT) have been applied to cryostat sections and intact stages of the hookworm species Ancylostoma caninum with sera from infected dogs. Especially the role of the body surface (=cuticle (cortex, matrix, basal layer) and hypodermis) in immunity was studied. Using cryostat sections and dead intact stages as the antigen, specific antibody binding was demonstrated round the ovum membrane and the cuticle of all stages of this hookworm species. Cryostat sections of adult worms showed, that it probably is not the cuticle itself that is antigenic, but that the specific reaction that is observed consisted of a layer, covering the cortex of the cuticle. Infective and parasitic living stages, however, showed no antibody binding in contrast to the free-living stages in which specific antibody binding was demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]