• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.253-260
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• 2002

Fowl red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, is the most important ectoparasite affecting egg layers worldwide. More than 35 compounds have been used for fowl red mite control. Although some of them are efficient, several compounds are unsuitable in terms of food safety and environmental problems. Some compounds are efficient in theory but inadequate in practice. It is also expensive in material and labor to control effectively. Effective doses are very close to toxic doses and repeated treatment is required. Repeated, long term treatment of compounds on fowl red mite populations, may cause heritable resistance against the mites. In this study, antigenicity of fowl red mite and house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, were identified by SDS-PAGE, silver staining, Western blotting and ELISA to investigate immune effects against fowl red mite using somatic antigens of fowl red mite and house dust mite. By SDS-PAGE, silver staining and Western blotting, several common antigens (110, 60, 56, 49, 46 kDa) of both fowl red mite and house dust mite were recognized. To identify immune effect of somatic antigens of fowl red mite and house dust mite, sixty white leghorn broilers(1 week old) were used. Among sixty white leghorn broilers, twenty were immunized with fowl red mite somatic antigens(Group I), twenty immunized with house dust mite antigens(Group II), and twenty were control group without antigen(Group III), respectively. After immunization, it was identified that antibody titers were increased both in group and II. Then all groups were challenged with fowl red mites. After 2 months, measurements of body weights, packed cell volume(PCV), ELISA OD values and numbers of mites were significant(p<0.05). These results suggest that fowl red mite and house dust mite, which are easy to collect and maintain, can be good vaccine candidates against fowl red mite in chicken.