An amount of 0·1 g of the faecal specimens from each of the groups at 0 day (day before C. parvum infection) and daily for 13 days following infection was weighed and purified through discontinuous sucrose gradients (13). Then, 10 μL of the purified faecal matter was taken to make a smear on glass slide. The slides were air dried,

stained with modified acid-fast Sotrastaurin staining method and examined for Cryptosporidium oocysts with microscope. Cryptosporidium parvum was counted in the entire smear using a 20× objective by a blinded observer. The results were expressed as number of C. parvum/g of faeces. Results of serological assays, production of cytokines and faecal oocyst shedding after C. parvum challenge were compared using analysis of variance (anova) and t-test using the spss software. A P-value of <0·05 was considered different. To study the capacity of multivalent peptides in stimulating immune responses and protecting host from C. parvum infection, first we generated the monovalent peptide fragment rCp23 and divalent

peptide rCp15–23 through recombinant DNA techniques. To identify PF-02341066 datasheet these cloned genes, the plasmid constructs were sequenced and analysed by BLAST searching. As in Figure 2a, the sequences we obtained are identical to Cp23 and Cp15 genes of C. parvum reported previously (15). To determine further whether the cloned genes can generate expected peptide, immunoblotting was performed using the sera from rabbits experimentally

infected with C. parvum. The Immune system bands appeared at 27 and 46 kDa position indicated that the sizes of the peptides were the same as estimated molecular weights (Figure 2b). To examine the antigen specificity of the proteins, rCp15–23, rCp23 or crude extract of C. parvum was used to coat 96-well plate and reacted with sera from rabbits experimentally infected with C. parvum oocysts. We found that all of the three antigens had higher specific immune reaction with the sera and the immune response using rCp15–23 generated stronger reaction than that in either rCp23 or crude extract group (Figure 3). Immunization of BALB/c mice three times with 10 μg of the proteins at 2-week intervals resulted in the generation of specific antibody responses against rCp23 protein, crude extract of C. parvum and rCp15–23 fusion protein (Figure 4). The concentrations of IgG remained at low levels until days 14 after the first vaccination, whereas the second dose of vaccine rapidly and significantly boosted the responses with the titre at 1 : 22 810 for rCp23 and 1 : 81 280 for rCp15–23. A peak concentration was observed after third boost (with the titre of 1 : 51 200 for rCp23 and 1 : 102 400 for rCp15–23). The vaccination of the mice with both the recombinant Cp15–23 fusion protein and rCp23 induced stronger antibody response than crude extract (P < 0·05).