APPLICATION OF TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS-SPECTROMETRY FOR DETECTION OF CAUSATIVE AGENT OF BRUCELLOSIS IN BLOOD SAMPLES IN EXPERIMENT

Aim.Study the possibility to apply time-of-flight mass-spectrometry for detection of causative agent of brucellosis in blood. Materials and methods. Brucella strains: 5 Brucella melitensis and 21 Brucella abortus. Protein profiling in linear mode on MALD1-TOF mass-spectrometer Microflex «Bruker Daltonics». Results. Technique for disinfection and preparation of blood samples was modified and optimized for MALDI-TOF MS analysis. 120 representative protein profiles of sera extract were obtained that contain brucellosis causative agent. A resulting peak-list (super-spectrum) of the studied protein fraction of blood extract of a conditionally healthy human within the studied group was formed and analyzed. Conclusion. A scheme of brucella detection in blood samples by MALDI-TOF MS is proposed, based on detection of a complex of 15 genus-specific fragments. Signals on mass-spectra of extracts of leukocyte fraction of blood, artificially contaminated with brucellosis causative agents are characterized