This study developed a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to detect L. infantum kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) in canine saliva. The qPCR showed an efficiency of 93.8%, a coefficient of correlation of 0.996 and a detection limit of 0.5 fg/reaction (0.005 parasites), although it detected until 0.25 fg/reaction (0.0025 parasites). When samples from 12 dogs experimentally infected with L. infantum were collected, L. infantum kDNA was detected at 16-weeks post-infection (wpi) in 41.7% and 91.7% of saliva and bone marrow samples, respectively, and at 47-wpi in 75% of both samples. L. infantum kDNA can be detected by qPCR in canine saliva, with lower sensitivity in the early stages of infection and a lower parasite load estimation compared to bone marrow. However, saliva had similar sensitivities to bone marrow in the later stages of the infection and could be used to detect L. infantum kDNA being aware of its limitations.

这项研究开发了一种实时定量PCR（qPCR）分析法，以检测犬唾液中的婴儿乳杆菌动植物DNA（kDNA）。qPCR的效率为93.8％，相关系数为0.996，检出限为0.5 fg /反应（0.005寄生虫），尽管检测到0.25 fg /反应（0.0025寄生虫）。当从实验性感染婴儿乳杆菌的12只狗中收集样本时，在感染后16周（wpi）分别检测到41.7％和91.7％的唾液和骨髓样本以及47-wpi的婴儿乳杆菌kDNA。两个样本中的75％。婴儿乳杆菌通过qPCR可以在犬唾液中检测到kDNA，与骨髓相比，在感染的早期阶段其敏感性较低，而寄生虫负荷估计值较低。然而，唾液在感染的后期对骨髓具有相似的敏感性，并且可以在知道其局限性的情况下用于检测婴儿L. kDNA。