Na2CO3, 15 mM NaHCO3, pH 9.6) containing 100
μg/ml of mannan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sigma) or
1% BSA (negative control) and incubated overnight at 4°C. After a one hour
blockage of the wells with blocking buffer (1% BSA in PBS), 1% NHS diluted
in GVB2+ was added together with different concentrations of
An. albimanus SGH or recombinant protein dissolved in PBS (final volume
of 100 μl/well) and incubated for 30 minutes at 37°C. Wells incubated with
serum and no inhibitor were used as positive controls. The wells were washed with PBS-Tw
(0.05% Tween-20 in PBS) and incubated for 60 minutes at room temperature with
blocking buffer containing anti-C3 antibody diluted 1:1000. After two washes, 50
μl of blocking buffer containing conjugated antibody (Sigma) diluted 1:1500 were
added to the wells. After two more washes, the wells were filled with 200 μL of
developing buffer (50 mM Na3C6H5O7, 50 mM
Na2HPO4, 1 mg/ml o-phenylenediamine (Sigma) and 0.075 %
H2O2, pH 5.0) and read at 450 nm and 37°C for 10 min in
the kinetic mode. The assays were done in duplicate and the means of the negative control
were subtracted of the other means. The results were transformed in percentage of C3
activation, considering the positive control as 100% of activation and then
analyzed using ANOVA and the Tukey test.