Cellular and serological responses in resistant and susceptible mice exposed to repeated infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri

An experiment was carried out to compare the parasitological and immunological responses of SWR and CBA mice to trickle (repeated) infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus. Male mice were given 125 L3 once per week and were killed in groups, together with naive control mice, weekly until week 8. Worm burdens accumulated in CBA, stabilizing in week 5 in excess of 400 worms and remaining high until week 8. In contrast in SWR worm burdens peaked in week 3 at a mean worm burden of 129 and then fell sharply so that by week 6, despite continuing re-infection, no more worms were recovered from these mice. SWR mice showed a marked mast cell and mMCP-1 response, peaking in weeks 2-3, whereas in CBA mice these responses were slower, and even at their height in week 8 still less intense than those in SWR mice. Both strains responded initially with a very similar goblet cell response, which declined in SWR mice as worms were eliminated, but was sustained in CBA mice until week 8. Serum TNFalpha concentrations were higher in SWR mice throughout the experiment. Infection elicited strong serological responses against adult and L4 antigens in both SWR and CBA mice, involving all the isotypes tested (IgG1, IgA and IgE). Anti-L3 responses were examined only for IgG1. However, only two responses differed significantly between the strains: the IgE response to L4 antigens was more intense in SWR mice, and interestingly and unexpectedly, the IgG1 response to adult worm antigens was more intense in CBA mice. These results reflect the activation of predominantly Th2-driven effector mechanisms, that may be associated with host-protective immunity developing under the trickle infection protocol exploited in these experiments.