Intestinal Mast Cell and Eosinophil Numbers During Worm Expulsion in Nulliparous and Lactating Rats Infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Counts of small intestinal eosinophils and mast cells in nulliparous rats during primary infection with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis showed that worm expulsion preceded mast cell and eosinophil accumulation in the infected intestinal mucosa. By contrast, in lactating rats undergoing a primary infection worm expulsion did not occur even after the intestinal mucosa had been infiltrated with large numbers of degranulating mast cells and eosinophils. As lymphocyte function is deficient in lactating rats, these results show that mast cells can be involved in worm rejection only by postulating a 3-step mechanism: step 1, antibody-mediated; step 2, lymphocyte-dependent; and step 3, amine action. Worms were damaged by antibodies (step 1) in both nulliparous and lactating rats at a time when no mast cells were histologically detectable. This suggested that step 1 of the worm rejection mechanism occurred independently of mast cells, and that step 1 functions in lactating rats.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: