Greener Journal of Biological Sciences

Greener Journal of  Biological Sciences Vol. 4 (3), pp. 092-097, April 2014.

 © 2014 Authors

Research Paper

Manuscript Number: 1216131032

Several Immunological Parameters in Rabbit Kittens Born to S. japonicum-infected Mothers

Abdel-Moneim Mohamed Salim¹*,

Mutaz Ahmed Abdella²

¹Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University,

Taif 21974, Saudi Arabia.

²Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Education, Taif University,

Taif 21974, Saudi Arabia.

*Corresponding Author’s Email: salimabdelmoneim55 @ hotmail. com,

Tel: 966-506746672, Fax: 966-02-7274290

Abstract:

In this study we explored the rabbit as an animal model for the congenital infection ofschistosomiasis japonica and assessed the effect of a congenital S. japonicum infection on the resistance of rabbit kittens to a postnatal challenge infection.

Kittens were challenged 17-19 weeks after the primary infection of their mothers. Perfusion was undertaken six weeks after the challenge. At this time parasitological, pathological and immunological parameters, worm reduction rate, granuloma size reduction rate, egg reduction rate, IgG and IgM responses were assessed and compared to that of kittens born to un-infected mothers.

The overall prevalence of congenital infection in kittens of infected mothers was 20% (12/60). After a postnatal challenge infection, prenatally infected kittens had a 54.66% worm reduction rate, 41.45% egg reduction rate, and 51.76%granuloma size reduction rate compared to naive kittens. Congenital infection decreases the IgM responses by 39.47 % while it increases the IgG responses by 56.22 %.

Together, these results indicate that congenital infection induce long-term effects on pathology and immune response patterns in rabbits subsequently challenge with S. japonicum cercariae.

Keywords: Congenital infection, Rabbits, S. japonicum

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