Acta Parasitologica, Vol. 50, No. 2, 2005, 180-188 Jirí Salat(1,2)*, Jan Kopecky(1,2), Bohuslava Janeckova(2) and Oleg Ditrich(1,2) - Different routes of infection with Encephalitozoon intestinalis
affect the development of immune response
in immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice
(1)Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; (2)Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia;
Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
*Corresponding author: george@paru.cas.cz
ABSTRACT
The development of an immune response of immunocompetent BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with different levels of resistance
to microsporidial infection and immunodeficient SCID mice was analysed in relation to the route of infection with
Encephalitozoon intestinalis. Cell-mediated immune responses were characterised by measurement of IFN-y and quantification
of CD4+, CD8+ and NK cells. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) infection induced higher levels of IFN-y in ex vivo cultures of peritoneal
exudate cells or splenocytes than peroral (p.o.) infection. Numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in the spleen increased
markedly at later time points (14 and 21 DPI) after i.p. infection of BALB/c mice, whereas in C57BL/6 mice the highest increase
was after p.o. infection. Considerable IFN-y production in ex vivo cultures of Peyer's patch lymphocytes of both mouse strains
was observed after p.o. infection. Intraperitoneal infection of SCID mice induced marked influx of inflammatory cells into the
peritoneum with NK cells. The results contribute to the development of an animal model of microsporidiosis caused by
E. intestinalis.
KEY WORDS: Encephalitozoon intestinalis, microsporidia, immunity, BALB/c, C57BL/6, SCID mice