Sel’skokhozyaistvennaya Biologiya [Agricultural Biology], 2013, № 4, p. 53-58 UDC 639.3.09:619:578:616-079.7:577.083.3 INDIRECT ELISA FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES IN SERA OF STURGEON FISH SPECIES 1All-Russia Research Institute of Veterinary Virology and Miсrobiology, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Pokrov, Vladimir Region, 601120 Russia, e-mail: prokaeva-ul@yandex.ru; I.B. Prokaeva1, B.V. Novikov2 2N.F. <...> Gamalei, Moscow, 123098 Russia Received January 25, 2013 S umma r y Herpesvirus disease of Siberian sturgeon, caused by SbSHV, is especially severe in the industrial populations. <...> The commonly used method for its specific diagnostics has a sufficient disadvantage because of SbSHV active reproduction in vivo when the water temperature is in the range of 10-18 С, and therefore, can be applied mainly in spring and sometimes in autumn. <...> At other seasons the amount of the virus in the fish tissues reduces so that it becomes nearly unrevealable. <...> We have developed a method for retrospective diagnosis of herpesvirus disease of Siberian sturgeon using indirect ELISA version. <...> Procedures for preparing the ELISA specific reagents are described, including the virus reproduction in cell culture, isolation of IgM-like immunoglobulin from hyperimmune antisera of sturgeon, etc. <...> The effectiveness of the proposed method and the reaction of neutralization was compared. <...> It is shown, that by elaborated method the SbSHV antibodies can be detected both in the Siberian sturgeon, and among closely related species of sturgeon, or their hybrids. <...> Siberian sturgeon herpes virus (SbSHV) is a highly-contagious disease with acute course and mass mortality of mixed-age fingerling of Acipenser baeri showing symptoms of hemorrhagic necrosis syndrome. <...> The disease affects industrial populations of sturgeon and develops especially severe in conditions of industrial fish farms. <...> The disease was first diagnosed in Russia in 2006, and, according to the available data, it is quite frequent in sturgeon fish farms (1, 2). <...> A similar infection of Acipenser transmontanus is known in North America and Western Europe (3). <...> Susceptibility to experimental infection was revealed in sturgeon and hybrid sturgeon ½ beluga ½ sterlet (SBS). <...> Currently, there is the only such method for diagnosing SbSHV – classical isolation in cell culture <...>