Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T20:52:31.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the rat: Failure to relate intestinal histamine and mast cell levels with worm expulsion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

R. Keller
R. Keller
Affiliation:
Immunobiology Research Group, Departments of Dermatology and Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper describes experiments to determine whether intestinal tissue mast cells and/or intestinal histamine are involved in the second, expulsive step of worm elimination. In neonatal rats, intestinal tissue contains only very little histamine and mature mast cells are encountered only sporadically. From birth to the adult age, there was a gradual rise in both intestinal mast cells and histamine.

During Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection in the adult rat, the concentration of histamine in the small intestine was clearly lower than in uninfected controls.Especially low histamine values were found to occur on days 6–12 of a primary infection in the region where the main worm burden was located. Similarly, the number of tissue mast cells present in the epithelium of the jejunum was decreased in the same region and during the same period of time. From the observation that the bulk of the parasites are expelled at a time when histamme and mast cell levels are low, it was concluded that mast cells and their constituents were not an essential factor in the second step of worm elimination

This work was supported by the Schweizerische Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Grant 5200.3). The skilful technical assistance of Miss I. Beeger, Miss R. Keist and Miss M. Iseli is gratefully acknowledged. I thank Mr H. Berchtold, Biostatistisches Zentrum der Universität Zürich, for the statistical evaluation of the data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , December 1971 , pp. 473 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barth, E. E. E., Jabbett, W. F. H. & Urquhart, G. M. (1966). Studies on the mechanism of the self-cure reaction in rats infected, with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. Immunology 10, 459–64.Google Scholar
Enerbäck, L. (1966). Mast cells in rat gastrointestinal mucosa. 2. Dye binding and meta-chromatic properties. Acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica 66, 303–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarrett, E. E. E. (1971). Diminished immunological responsiveness to helminth parasites. The effect of repeated reinfection of rats from an early age with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. Clinical and experimental Immunology 8, 141–50.Google ScholarPubMed
Jarrett, E. E. E., Jarrett, W. F. H. & Urquhart, G. M. (1966). Immunological un-responsiveness in adult rats to the nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis induced by infection in early life. Nature, Lond. 211, 1310–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarrett, E. E. E., Jarrett, W. F. H. & Urquhart, G. M. (1968 a). Immunological un-responsiveness to helminth parasites. I. The pattern of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infections in young rats. Experimental Parasitology 23, 151–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarrett, W. F. H., Jarrett, E. E. E., Miller, H. R. P. & Urquhart, G. M. (1968 b). Quantitative studies on the mechanism of self cure in Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infections. In The Reaction of the Host to Parasitism p. 191(ed. Soulsby, E. J. L.). Marburg: N. G. Elwert.Google Scholar
Jones, V. E. & Ogilvie, B. M. (1971). Protective immunity to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis: the sequence of events which expels worms from the rat intestine. Immunology 20, 549–61.Google ScholarPubMed
Kassai, T. & Aitken, I. D. (1967). Induction of immunologioal tolerance in rats to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection. Parasitology 57, 403–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keller, B. (1970 a). On the mechanism of expulsion of helminths. Clinical and experimental Immunology 6, 207–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Keller, B. (1970 b). Immune reactions to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the rat. I. Characteristics of primary and secondary immune response in vivo. International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology 37, 197–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, M., Miller, H. B. P., Sanford, J. & Jarrett, W. F. H. (1971). 5-Hydroxytrypt-amine in intestinal immunological reactions. Its relationship to mast cell activity and worm expulsion in rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology 40, 236–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogilvie, B. M. (1965). Use of cortisone derivatives to inhibit resistance to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and to study the fate of parasites in resistant hosts. Parasitology 55, 723–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogilvie, B. M. & Hockley, D. J. (1968). Effects of immunity on Nippostrongylus brasiliensis adult worms: reversible and irreversible changes in infectivity, reproduction and morphology. Journal of Parasitology 54, 1073–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ogilvie, B. M. & Jones, V. E. (1967). Reaginie antibodies and immunity to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the rat. I. The effect of thymectomy, neonatal infections and splenectomy. Parasitology 57, 335–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. F. (1959). In The Mast Cells, pp. 132 ff. Edinburgh: Livingstone.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, N. C. C. & Jarrett, W. F. H. (1968). Inhibition of immunological expulsion of helminths by reserpine. Nature, London 218, 1161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urquhart, G. M., Mulligan, W., Eadie, R. M. & Jennings, F. W. (1965). Immunological studies on Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection in the rat: the role of local anaphylaxis. Experimental Parasitology 17, 210–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, P. D. (1962). Mast cell, eosinophil and histamine levels in Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infected rats. Experimental Parasitology 12, 82–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed