DIROFILARIA IMMITIS .5. IMMUNOPATHOLOGY OF FILARIAL NEPHROPATHY IN DOGS

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 104  (1) , 1-12
Abstract
Beagles (14) infected with larvae (microfilariae) of D. immitis, were randomly selected from another study in which the toxic effects of subfilaricidal doses of diethylcarbamazine were being evaluated. This group of 14 dogs, together with 4 uninfected control animals, were variably sacrificed between 14-25 mo. after larval inoculations; and the ensuing renal lesions were studied by light and ultrastructural microscopy and by immunofluorescence and antibody elution techniques. Two groups of animals were distinguished. The 1st group was characterized by a striking pattern of linear fluorescence and fine ultrastructural dense deposits along the glomerular basement membrane, poor antibody response and an inability to clear microfilariae from the tissues and circulation. The 2nd group, with a nonlinear pattern of fluorescence, was characterized by a strong immune response, efficient elimination of microfilariae and immunofluorescence and ultrastructural evidence of predominantly mesangiopathic immune complex renal disease. In both groups, elutions studies demonstrated tissue deposits of antiworm antibodies, suggesting a filaria-antibody immune-complex nephropathy. No evidence was found for the presence of anti-basement-membrane antibodies. Possibly in the 1st group of animals with linear fluorescence, the observed lesions may represent a natural form of an immunopathogenic mechanism of glomerular damage in which filarial antigen becomes uniformly localized in the glomerulus and elicits an autologous antibody response. The possible role of the drug diethylcarbamazine in inducing this mechanism of immune injury is discussed.