Influence of pro-inflammatory treatments on experimental infection of rats with Fasciola hepatica: changes in serum levels of inflammatory markers during the early stages of fasciolosis

Abstract

The effect of stimulating an inflammatory reaction by injecting rats with either Freund's complete adjuvant or turpentine oil shortly before or after they were infected experimentally with Fasciola hepatica on the establishment of the parasite was studied. Freund's complete adjuvant, given either four hours before or four hours after infection with F hepatica and turpentine oil given four hours before infection resulted in a 40 to 50 per cent decrease in the rats' fluke burden. The study of markers of inflammation (acute phase proteins, leucocytes and platelets) demonstrated that the fluke had a modulating effect on the rat's inflammatory response. During the first few days after infection, F hepatica stimulated a transitory inflammatory reaction, as suggested by changes in the level of acute phase proteins (APP) in the serum. No further change in the APP titre occurred until three weeks after infection, when, together with an increase in the extent of the liver lesions, the change in the titre of APP indicated that a systemic and chronic inflammatory process had taken place.