ROLE OF HOST IMMUNE-RESPONSE IN DEVELOPMENT OF TISSUE LESIONS ASSOCIATED WITH AFRICAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS IN MICE

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 33  (1) , 12-24
Abstract
A variety of tissue lesions occurs in African trypanosomiasis, in the pathogenesis of which direct toxic effects of the parasite and immunological mechanisms may be involved. The role of the host immune response in inducing tissue damage in this disease and particularly in the production of lesions in striated muscle was evaluated. The development of muscle lesions in Trypanosoma brucei infection was studied in several groups of mice with different forms of immunodeficiency and in normal mice. In the normal mice, foci of intense inflammation and necrosis were found in the cardiac and skeletal muscles 2 wk or more after infection. In these lesions there was a heavy deposition of Ig[immunoglobulin]G and IgM and of trypanosomal antigens. In irradiated newborn mice and athymic nude mice infected with T. brucei, these inflammatory lesions were not found, although large numbers of trypanosomes were present between the muscle fibers. The characteristic lesions could be induced in athymic nude mice by transfer of normal spleen cells or of normal T [thymus-derived] lymphocytes 1 wk after the onset of infection. The lesions were also partly induced by transfer of antibody to T. brucei. No antibodies to tissue components, particularly to cardiac myofibrils, were found in any of the infected mice. Apparently immunodeficiency suppresses the development of the characteristic muscle lesions of African trypanosomiasis. The relative importance of humoral and cellular immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of these lesions is not yet clear.