Premium
Brugia pahangi in cats: the passive transfer of anti‐microfilarial immunity from immune to non‐immune cats
Author(s) -
MEDEIROS FILOMENA,
BALDWIN C.I.,
DENHAM D.A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3024.1996.d01-50.x
Subject(s) - brugia pahangi , cats , immune system , immunology , antibody , biology , antigen , felis , isotype , immunoglobulin g , microfilaria , physiology , helminths , medicine , filariasis , monoclonal antibody
Serum from cats (Felis catus) that were repeatedly infected with Brugia pahangi and had become amicrofilaraemic (mf‐ve) was injected intravenously into microfilaraemic (mf + ve) cats. If more than 1 μl of immune serum per 1000 mf was injected, microfilarial counts fell dramatically within minutes and, in some cats, mf completely disappeared. In most cases mf reappeared 21–44 days later. However, in two experiments mf never reappeared and circulating antigen (indicative of the presence of living adults) could not be detected. At autopsy no adult worms were found, but in one cat 6 mf/ml were detected by filtration of cardiac blood. Passive transfer of single Ig isotypes showed that IgG is the immunoglobulin responsible for the mf killing effect of immune serum, and that IgGl is probably the most active isotype. Mf killing and destruction, occurred in the lungs in an antibody dependent cell mediated reaction involving neutrophils, eosinophils and mononuclear cells. Three of the 20 recipient cats died from what appeared to be anaphylactic shock while under anaesthesia probably due to the sudden release of inflammatory mediators in the lung.