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Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
Maternal immunization with actinomycetales immunomodulators reduces parasitemias in offspring challenged with
Hector Davila1, Griselda Didoli, Oscar Bottasso
1Instituto de Inmunologia, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario, Argentina.
Abstract:
This article describes the first use of heat-killed, borate-buffered preparations of aerobic actinomycetales to immunize pregnant animals in order to determine the effect on their pregnancy and fertility and the survival coefficients of their offspring. Pregnant rats received three injections of Gordonia bronchialis, Rhodococcus coprophylus or physiological saline and a proportion of their offspring were challenged with live Trypanosoma cruzi at the time of weaning. Levels of parasitemia and, in some animals, of the cytokines IFN-γ and IL-10 were measured. The progress of pregnancy, fertility and survival of offspring were unaffected by the maternal immunizations. The offspring of rats immunized with G. bronchialis displayed significantly reduced parasitemias, with increased levels of IFN-γ and reduced levels of IL-10, 4 days after challenge. The offspring of rats immunized with R. coprophylus displayed greater parasitemias than did those of the control group. These unexpected results are discussed and their causation considered.
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