Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2009
Lysozyme secretion from macrophages of Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice was time dependent, rising significantly from the 8th week post-infection, the macrophages thereafter exhibiting very high levels (> 90%) of schistosomulicidal activity. Despite the ability of lysozyme to kill schistosomula in vitro, the concentrations required for such killing were several hundred-fold to several thousand-fold higher than those detected in the supernatants from infected-mice macrophages cultured with or without schistosomula. An in vitro lysozyme inhibitor, N, N, N-triacetyl chitobiose, did not abrogate the cytotoxic ability of macrophages from schistosome-infected mice, but an inhibitor of arginine-dependent cytotoxicity, NG-monomethyl arginine, markedly inhibited schistosomulicidal activity. Evidently, concentrations of ambient lysozyme from macrophage cultures are too low to affect schistosomula in culture, while the main schisto-somulicidal pathway in vitro seems to be arginine dependent.