title: Nematospiroides dubius: stimulation of acquired immunity in inbred strains of mice.
abstract: The development of immunity to Nematospiroides dubius was studied in three strains of inbred mice (BALB/c, C3H and NIH). Although a primary infection in NIH mice persisted for two months without evidence of a reduction in worm numbers, female mice of this strain readily developed resistance to reinfection. The degree of resistance was enhanced when an immunizing infection of 600 larvae was administered as 6 separate doses of 100 larvae given between days 0 and 11, and the worms removed by anthelmintic treatment given on days 15, 21, 28 and 35. Immunity in mice immunized in this way was manifest both as a reduction in worm recoveries on days 9-14 after challenge and also as an expulsion of established worms from the intestine. BALB/c mice were initially less resistant, but expelled most of the worms which became established; C3H mice showed no evidence of expulsion. The finding that inbred NIH and BALB/c mice acquire resistance to N. dubius offers possibilites for the systematic analysis of lymphoid cell activity in initiating and expressing immunity to this parasite.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006725:Hookworm Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D007110:Immunity, Active; D007114:Immunization; D007422:Intestines / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains