Abstract
IgG1 antibody responses to Heligmosomoides polygyrus were measured in eight mouse strains supporting acute (< 8 weeks, SJL, SWR), intermediate (10-20 weeks, NIH, BALB/c) or chronic (> 25 weeks, C57BL/0, CBA, C3H, AKR) primary infections. Mice supporting acute or intermediate infections produced more intense antibody responses and total serum IgG1 concentrations were higher than in mice tolerating chronic infections. Positive correlations across mouse strains between the intensity of the antibody response and the percentage loss of worms in weeks 6 and 10 were established. No correlation was found between the response within mouse strains and loss of worms by individual mice. Heavy infections gave marginally higher antibody titres than low intensity infections, but few significant differences were detected and it was concluded that infection intensity did not markedly influence the magnitude of the antibody response. Male and female mice responded similarly despite the earlier loss of worms from females. No association was found between the primary response phenotype and recognition of particular antigens in Western blot analysis, nor did intensity of infection or host gender affect recognition. The possibility that immunomodulatory properties of adult worms may have had a differential influence on ability of strains of contrasting response phenotype to mount IgG1 responses was discussed.
Highlights
Parasitic nematodes responsible for chronic infections, are of considerable importance both in human and veterinary medicine (See reviews Behnke 1987, Behnke, Barnard & Wakelin 1992a, Monroy & Enriquez 1992)
Following primary exposure many mouse strains harbour adult worms for more than 30 and often up to 40 weeks (Robinson et al 1989), whereas others curtail primary infections within eight weeks of exposure (Wahid, Robinson & Behnke 1989), an observation which is of particular significance because it implies that certain mouse genotypes are resistant to the evasive strategies employed successfully by adult H. polygyrus during chronic infections in susceptible strains
The present work is based on a range of mouse strains representing three primary response phenotypes, slow, intermediate (10-20 weeks, e.g., NIH and BALB/c) and fast
Summary
Parasitic nematodes responsible for chronic infections, are of considerable importance both in human and veterinary medicine (See reviews Behnke 1987, Behnke, Barnard & Wakelin 1992a, Monroy & Enriquez 1992). Urban, Katona & Finkelman (1991) have produced data indicating that in BALB/c mice (Intermediate responders), CD4+ cells are required to control primary infections and that depletion of these cells through treatment with specific antibody results in a depression of serum IgE and an increase in survival and fecundity of adult worms. These data suggest that some mouse strains can reject the worm through the mediation of CD4+,Th2 lymphocytes which are known to control inflammatory responses to other G1 nematodes (Finkelman et al 1991a, Grencis, Hultner & Else 1991, Else & Grencis 1991)
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