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Cellular Immunity to Leishmania Donovani

II. Evidence for Synergy Between Thymocytes and Lymph Node Cells in Reconstitution of Acquired Resistance to L. Donovani in Mice¹

From the Department of Microbiology and Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Abstract

C57BL/6J mice were infected with Leishmania donovani after a series of treatments that were designed to deplete thymus-dependent (T) cell populations. Deprived mice did not acquire immune resistance to the parasite. The capacity to resist infection was restored by either lymph node cells (LNC) or thymocytes, but 20 to 25 times more thymocytes than LNC were required. Reconstitution of immunocompetence by both cell types was inhibited by in vivo treatment with azathioprine or anti-brain associated serum. Limiting dilution experiments showed that constant minimal numbers of LNC combined with graded numbers of thymocytes, or vice versa, conferred greater protection than expected from the additive effect of both cell types acting independently. Cultured peritoneal macrophages, harvested from normal and reconstituted mice 44 days after infection, suppressed parasite multiplication. Macrophages from infected deprived mice were unable to prevent parasite multiplication in vitro. These results provide strong evidence that acquired resistance of mice to L. donovani involves T-T cell synergy and relies principally on cellular immunty.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by Grant DADA 17-69C-9135 from the U. S. Army Medical Research and Development Command under sponsorship of the Commission on Parasitic Diseases of the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board, and with support from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. Journal Article no. 6791 from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.