Folia Parasitologica 52[1/2] 158-162 (2005) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2005.020

Humoral intestinal immunity against Encephalitozoon cuniculi (Microsporidia) infection in mice

Bohumil Sak, Oleg Ditrich

Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Three strains of mice, BALB/c, IL-12 knock-out (KO) and INF-γ knock-out, were chosen as an experimental model for the study of intestinal immunity induction against Encephalitozoon cuniculi Levaditi, Nicolau et Schoen, 1923 infection. Mice were infected perorally with 10⁷ spores and re-infected with the same dose 70 days after the first infection. The anti-E. cuniculi IgA, IgG and IgM responses in sera and extracts of stool samples were determined by ELISA. Results have shown specific antibody production in the sera and intestinal secretions of all three strains of mice induced orally by E. cuniculi spores. BALB/c mice developed a stronger humoral immune response than IL-12 KO mice. The lowest antibody response developed in INF-γ KO mice that succumbed to the infection within 28 days post infection.

Keywords: microsporidiosis, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, intestinal immunity, humoral antibodies

Received: September 3, 2004; Accepted: February 8, 2005; Published: May 1, 2005  Show citation