Detection of muscle larvae of Trichinella spiralis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

ELISA was applied to the detection of Trichinella spiralis larvae in infected rat muscles. Anti-muscle larva serum was prepared by inoculating crude extract of muscle larvae to rabbits. Limb muscles of infected rats were emulsified with carbonate buffer and the supernatant was used for ELISA. ELISA values of positive muscular samples were clearly higher than those of negative ones to prove that ELISA can be applied to the detection of muscle larvae. The present method showed positive values to muscles infected with 10 or more larvae per gram of muscle (LPGM).