Trickle infections with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in rats: larval migration through the lungs

The effects of exposure of rats to repeated low-level (trickle) infections with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis were assessed by measuring intestinal and lung worm burdens. Worm recoveries from the intestine, made during a period of trickle infection in rats of different ages, showed a virtually complete rejection of intestinal worms in old rats and a partial rejection in young rats. Recoveries from lungs were made in young rats after challenge infection with 500 third-stage (L3) larvae, given after a 2- or 4-wk period of sensitization, during which rats were infected with 10 or 20 doses of 25 larvae. Such trickle infections elicited a strong host response to a challenge infection, manifested by low recoveries of larvae and an increased duration of larval retention in lungs. In another group of rats sensitized by a single dose of 250 L3 larvae, the recovery of larvae from challenge infection and their clearance from the lungs were similar to these observed in rats uninfected prior to challenge. The effect of trickle infections on preintestinal stages was most pronounced and consistent in rats exposed to larvae the greater numbers of times and over the longest period.