title: Characterization of the cellular responses of the pulmonary and hepatic phases of primary murine Schistosoma mansoni infections.
abstract: Lymphocytes from the mediastinal lymph nodes (draining the pulmonary phase of the infection), the hepatic lymph nodes (draining the hepatic phase of the infection), and the spleen of C57BL/6 mice exposed to Schistosoma mansoni were characterized relative to their capacity to interact with a soluble immunogen prepared from the adult worm (SWI). B or T RFC (rosette forming cells), RAFC (rosette-antibody forming cells), and PFC (plaque forming cells) were assayed. The RFC responses of the mediastinal and hepatic nodes were predominantly B cell in character and were maximal at that period which corresponded to the anatomic exposure which would be predicted from the migratory pattern of the parasite. High levels of T RFC and predominantly IgM B-responsive cells were generated in the mediastinal nodes during the presence of the schistosomulum in the lung parenchyma. Immunoglobulin-responsive (IgM greater than IgG greater than IgE) B cells were initially detected in the hepatic nodes during the lung-to-liver migration of the schistosomulum and its maturation to the adult form. However, elevated levels of T RFC and IgG greater than IgM greater than or equal to IgE-responsive B cells were maximally present in the hepatic nodes during optimal egg production and egg-induced granuloma formation in the liver. In contrast to the responses of the lymph nodes, the splenic responses were predominantly T cell in nature for the first 8 weeks of infection. Splenic lymphocytes expressed a biphasic response, the first represented by T RFC and IgM-responsive B cells and coincided with the migration of the schistosomulum out of the lung and the second was also represented by T RFC but with predominance of IgG-responsive B cells and correlated with the production of eggs and maximal granuloma formation at the hepatic level.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011817:Rabbits; D012397:Rosette Formation; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000276:immunology; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology