STUDIES ON HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIP IN SCHISTOSOMA-MANSONI-INFECTED MICE - IMMUNOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE OF PARASITE EGG EXCRETION

Abstract

CBA mice deprived of their T [thymus-derived] cells by means of thymectomy and anti-thymocyte serum and subsequently infected with Schistosoma mansoni had substantially fewer parasite eggs in their feces than similarly infected immunologically-intact control animals. The number of parasite eggs deposited in the tissue of T cell deprived mice was by comparison only marginally lower than in control mice. Administration of serum obtained from normal mice with chronic S. mansoni infections partially restored the egg excretion rate in infected deprived mice, and also resulted in an increased number of eggs being deposited in the iver and intestine of these animals.