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Influence of Toxocara canis infection during pregnancy on offspring resistance towards re-infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2006

K. REITEROVÁ ,
O. TOMASOVICOVÁ  and
P. DUBINSKÝ
K. REITEROVÁ
Affiliation:
Parasitological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Koŝice, Slovak Republic
O. TOMASOVICOVÁ
Affiliation:
Parasitological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Koŝice, Slovak Republic
P. DUBINSKÝ
Affiliation:
Parasitological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Koŝice, Slovak Republic
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Abstract

The impact of Toxocara canis infection of Balb/c mice mothers on the future immune response of their offspring towards reinfection with the same parasite was studied. Two groups of offspring, the first originating from the mothers infected with a single dose of 1000 Toxocara canis eggs and the second from non-infected mothers, were both challenged with 500 T. canis eggs per animal at 6 weeks of age. The proportions of spleen CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, the level of serum cytokines IFN-γ and IL-5, eosinophilia in peripheral blood, the production of specific antibodies and the number of migrating larvae were monitored. In both groups of offspring, the challenge infection resulted in an increase in CD4+ T-cell subtype in comparison with the non-infected healthy control, although after an initial decline a subsequent increase in CD8+ was observed. The immunoregulation index (CD4+/CD8+) was lower in the group of mice originating from infected mothers throughout the whole experiment compared to the offspring of non-infected mothers as well as in healthy control mice of the same age. In the offspring of infected mothers mainly, a reduced production of IFN-γ and of IL-5, suppressed eosinophilia and a higher level of protective antibodies was detected, compared to the control second group, in which the INF-γ concentration significantly increased after day 42 p.i. In the first group of offspring before challenge, 12·7±2·5 larvae in the brains and 32±2·1 larvae in the muscles transmitted from the infected mothers were detected. There was a significant reduction in larval recovery from brain on days 42 and 49 p.i. (56·7 and 56·8%, respectively), while from muscles in the same time there was a reduction of 46·7 and 39%, respectively, compared to the offspring of non-infected mothers. These results indicate a significant protective memory of immune mechanisms against T. canis induced in offspring of Toxocara-infected mother mice.

Keywords

Toxocara canisimmune responsecytokinesantibodiesmicetransplacental transmission
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 132 , Issue 5 , May 2006 , pp. 625 - 633
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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