FVB/N mice are highly resistant to primary infection withNippostrongylus brasiliensis

Abstract

SUMMARYNippostrongylus brasiliensislarvae are particularly susceptible to immunological attack during the pre-lung stage of primary and secondary infections in mice. Whilst most of the common laboratory strains of mice are permissive hosts for the parasite, in this study we report for the first time, the strong resistance of naïve FVB/N mice toN. brasiliensis. Damage to larvae is evident within the first 24 h of infection and this may be critical to later larval development and reproductive success. Inflammatory responses in the skin, and larval escape from this tissue were comparable in susceptible CBA/Ca and resistant FVB/N mice, with most larvae exiting within 4 h of a primary infection. Lung larval burdens were also similar between strains, but larvae recovered from FVB/N mice were smaller and less motile. In FVB/N mice, larval colonization of the gut was impaired and worms produced very few eggs. However FVB/N mice did not show enhanced resistance toHeligmosomoides bakeri(also known asHeligmosomoides polygyrus), a nematode largely restricted to the gut. Damage done in the pre-lung or lung stages of infection withN. brasiliensisis likely to contribute to ongoing developmental and functional abnormalities, which are profoundly evident in the gut phase of infection.