Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:54:29.374Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of prednisolone on murine strongyloidiasis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2011

D. I. Grove
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Western Australia and the Repatriation General Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009
H. J. S. Dawkins
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Western Australia and the Repatriation General Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009

Summary

The effects of prednisolone were investigated in C57B1/6 mice infected with Strongyloides ratti. In primary infections, the numbers of adult worms in the small intestine and larvae in the stools were increased and there was a slight delay in the spontaneous expulsion of worms. In secondary infections, there was an initial suppression of acquired resistance, with larvae appearing normally in the stools on the 5th day after infection. This was followed, however, by a rapid development of resistance and expulsion of worms over the next few days. Prednisolone treatment did not alter fecundity in primary or secondary infections. There was no evidence of autoinfection in control or corticosteroid-treated animals. Prednisolone abrogated innate resistance to infection in C3H mice. It is concluded that prednisolone probably facilitated infection by non-specific mechanisms as well as by suppressing specific acquired immunity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Castro, G. A. (1976). Spatial and temporal integration of host responses to intestinal changes of Trichinella spiralis: retro- and prospective views. In Biochemistry of Parasites and Host–Parasite Relationships (ed. Van den Bossche, H.), pp. 343358. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Dawkins, H. J. S. & Grove, D. I. (1981). Kinetics of primary and secondary infections with Strongyloides ratti in mice. International Journal for Parasitology 11, 8996.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawkins, H. J. S., Grove, D. I., Dunsmore, J. D. & Mitchell, G. F. (1980). Strongyloides ratti: susceptibility to infection and resistance to reinfection in inbred strains of mice as assessed by excretion of larvae. International Journal for Parasitology 10, 125–9.Google Scholar
Dawkins, H. J. S., Muir, G. M. & Grove, D. I. (1981). Histopathological appearances in primary and secondary infections with Strongyloides ratti in mice. International Journal for Parasitology 11, 97103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grove, D. I., Aalburger, J. & Warren, K. S. (1977). Kinetics of immunological responses, resistance to reinfection and pathological reactions in trichinosis. Journal of Infectious Diseases 136, 562–70.Google Scholar
Moqbel, R. & Denham, D. A. (1978). Strongyloides ratti: the effect of betamethasone on the course of infection in rats. Parasitology 76, 289–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olsen, C. E. & Schiller, E. L. (1978). Strongyloides ratti infections in rats. II. Effects of cortisone treatment. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 27, 527–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts-Thomson, I. C., Grove, D. I., Stevens, D. P. & Warren, K. S. (1976). Suppression of giardiasis by the intestinal phase of trichinosis in the mouse. Gut 17, 953–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scowden, E. B., Schaffner, W. & Stone, W. J. (1978). Overwhelming strongyloidiasis; an unappreciated opportunistic infection. Medicine (Baltimore) 57, 527–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wakelin, D. & Selby, G. R. (1974). The induction of immunological tolerance to the parasitic nematode Trichuris muris in cortisone-treated mice. Immunology 26, 110.Google Scholar