Annual antigen testing is a mainstay for diagnosing infection with Dirofiliaria immitis in dogs; yet, it has been documented that some heartworm-infected dogs and cats test false-negative for antigen due to the presence of antigen-antibody complexes. Several studies have reported the use of heat as a reliable means of immune-complex dissociation (ICD) in recent years; however, the data regarding the use of acid as a reliable method of ICD for D. immitis detection are limited. The objective of this study was to compare an acid-based form of ICD to the more established and evaluated method of heat-based ICD in experimentally infected and non-infected dogs. Plasma from class A dogs experimentally infected ∼4 months prior with D. immitis (infected; n = 24) and dogs reared indoors with no history of exposure to mosquitoes (non-infected; n = 75) were evaluated for presence of D. immitis antigen (DiroCHEK® Heartworm antigen test kit). Each sample was divided into three aliquots for testing: [1] Control plasma (no acid- or heat-treatment), [2] acid-treated plasma (trichloroacetic acid (TCA), incubation, centrifugation for 5 min at 16,000 X g, buffer), and [3] heat-treated plasma (104 °C followed by centrifugation at 16,000 X g). Treatments for each aliquot were performed and tested in triplicate; results were determined both visually (color change) and by spectrophotometric analysis (optical density [OD] value). Of the 24 infected dogs, 0/24 tested positive for antigen in the absence of acid- or heat-treatment. Those same plasma samples following processing by either acid- or heat-treatment yielded 18/24 (75.0%) and 19/24 (79.2%) antigen-positive results, respectively. Of the 75 plasma samples from non-infected dogs, neither acid- nor heat-treatment of plasma caused any false-positive color changes or spectrophotometric values. These results indicate that acid as a means of ICD reliably allowed for the detection of D. immitis antigen in infected plasma while not inducing false-positive results in non-infected plasma samples.

年度抗原检测是诊断狗中Dirofiliaria炎的主要手段。然而，据报道，由于存在抗原-抗体复合物，一些感染了丝虫的狗和猫的抗原测试为假阴性。近年来有几项研究报告了使用热量作为免疫复合物解离（ICD）的可靠方法。然而，关于将酸用作ICD检测D.炎性炎的可靠方法的数据是有限的。这项研究的目的是在实验感染和未感染的犬只中，将一种以酸为基础的ICD与以热为基础的ICD的方法进行比较。从A级犬等离子实验感染与前几个月约为4 D.丝虫（感染; ñ ＝ 24）和没有室内暴露于蚊子史（未感染；n  ＝ 75）的室内饲养的狗被评估是否存在D. Immitis抗原（DiroCHEK®Heartworm抗原测试试剂盒）。每个样品分为三个等分试样进行测试：[1]对照血浆（不进行酸或热处理），[2]酸处理的血浆（三氯乙酸（TCA），孵育，以16,000 X g离心5分钟，缓冲液）和[3]热处理血浆（104°C，然后以16,000 X g离心））。每个等份的处理均进行三次，并进行测试；目测（颜色变化）和分光光度分析（光密度[OD]值）都确定了结果。在24只受感染的狗中，没有进行酸或热处理时0/24的抗原呈阳性。通过酸或热处理处理后的那些相同血浆样品分别产生18/24（75.0％）和19/24（79.2％）抗原阳性结果。在来自未感染狗的75个血浆样品中，血浆的酸化或热处理均未引起任何假阳性的颜色变化或分光光度值。这些结果表明，作为ICD手段的酸可靠地用于检测被感染血浆中的D.炎性炎症抗原，而不会在未感染血浆样品中引起假阳性结果。