Young, Catherine A., Frederick G. Silversides and Simon R.M. Jonesa, c, 2007, Aquaculture 273:398-404.
aUniversity of Victoria, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 3020, Station CSC, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3N5 bAgassiz Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 1000, Agassiz, B.C., Canada V0M 1A0 cPacific Biological Station, 3190 Hammond Bay Rd, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada V9T 6N7
Abstract
A polyclonal IgY preparation, purified from yolk of immunized hens, is shown to be useful for the detection of Loma salmonae in Pacific salmon. Purity of the IgY was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and western blots of yolk protein extracts. Reactivity of the IgY preparation to L. salmonae was determined through indirect-fluorescent antibody tests on purified spores and by immunohistochemistry. Developing xenomas in histological sections of heart and gill tissue of infected chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were visualized as early as 4 weeks post-exposure (PE). Non-lethal detection of L. salmonae was obtained by indirect-fluorescent microscopy of acetone-fixed gill smears. The IgY preparation was shown to react with another Loma sp., L. branchialis. In contrast, no reactivity was observed with other microsporidian parasites of fish such as Pseudoloma neurophilia and Glugea anomala. Yolk derived IgY may be useful in the detection of other fish pathogens.
*Note: The chicken IgY used in this publication was purified using the Eggspress IgY purification kit manufactured by Gallus Immunotech Inc. | 
