The immune response of the mouse to larvae and adults of Nematospiroides dubius

In mice, repeatedly infected orally with larvae of Nematospiroides dubius, resistance caused delay in the maturation of larvae, their investment in inflammatory nodules and, in sufficiently resistant animals, their death. The fecundity of adult worms was not affected by host resistance.Previously uninfected mice which had received adult worms by transplantation at operation produced only very low titres of reaginic antibody in comparison with mice infected with larvae by mouth.The migration of leucocytes from resistant mice was inhibited by a crude antigen derived from adult worms.In mice made passively immune by transfer of serum the entry of larvae into the wall of the intestine was delayed; there was no inflammatory response and the larvae did not die.In mice selectively depleted of thymus-derived lymphocytes no inflammatory response occurred and the maturation of larvae was not delayed in response to repeated infection.