Schistosoma mansoni: resolution and molecular weight estimates of tegument glycoproteins by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Tegument samples of Schistosoma mansoni, extracted either by freezing and thawing or saponin, were fractionated in sodium dodecyl sulfate—polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The electrophoretic patterns varied if different extraction techniques were used. Lighter backgrounds and sharper bands were always observed with frozen and thawed preparations, although one of the major glycoprotein components and a PAS-positive diffuse material which migrates very rapidly were not extracted by this technique. The number of bands which could be identified by slab gel electrophoresis was approximately 25. Electrophoretic differences could be detected when teguments from male and female as well as young and adult parasites were compared. On the other hand, tegument preparations of 30-day parasites obtained from mice, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters showed a remarkable similarity to each other.