Lagochilascaris minor: Susceptibility and resistance to experimental infection in mice is independent of H-2 a haplotype and correlates with the immune response in immunized animals

Recently,we demonstrated that c57bl/6 mice are more susceptible to experimental lagochilascariosis than balb/c mice. to investigate the pattern of infection and the role of the genetic background on susceptibility to infection,we studied experimental lagochilascariosis in h- 2 a identical b10.a and a/j mice. infected b10.a mice had a lower survival ratio and more severe lesions in the lungs than did a/j mice. splenocytes of a/j mice immunized with the crude extract of the parasite showed increased proliferation and produced a higher level of interleukin 10 and interferon- in the presence of ce or concanavalin a when compared to b10.a mice. this suggests that resistance of a/j mice may be due to less severe lesions in lungs and other organs and a better immune response to parasite antigens. this paper provides evidence that major histocompatibility complex haplotype does not influence the survival to experimental infection with l. minor. © 2010 monica spadafora-ferreira et al.