The concomitant immunity in the presence of repeated infections (with 15 cercariae) was studied in mice sacrificed on the 20th day after each infection. The comparison of the averages of immature worms, recovered from mice submitted to reinfection, with those of their respective controls (previously uninfected) showed a significantly lower worm recovery rate in the animals with previous infections (concomitant immunity). However, statiscally significant differences could not be detected among the various groups of animals, when the mice that accumulated worms in this mature stage were perfused. The theoretical projection based on the accumulation of young worms which developed to adult ones indicates a lower recovery rate of adult worms in the animals with concomitant immunity, but this projection was not corroborated by the experimental data. The visceral hemodynamic alterations that occurred in reinfections due to the pathogeny, favouring recirculation of the recent arriving worms to the other organs on the occasion of perfusion of the portal system. These results suggest that special care should be taken when one wants to investigate concomitant immunity in mice based on the distinction of the immature worms from challenge infection and the mature ones from primary infection.

No presente estudo, verificou-se o comportamento histopatológico das infecções e reinfecções, homólogas ou heterólogas, das cepas LE (Belo Horizonte, MG) e SJ (São José dos Campos, SP) de Schistosoma mansoni. Confirmou-se uma maior patogenicidade da cepa SJ de S. mansoni. As reinfecções, independentemente de terem sido feitas com a mesma cepa (homóloga) ou cepa diferente da primo infecção (heteróloga) do parasito, mostraram a presença de granulomas típicos da fase aguda. São discutidos os possíveis mecanismos responsáveis pela reagudização da resposta imunopatológica nas reinfecções.

In this study, which was undertaken in relation to the histopathologic behavior of two different strains (LE-Belo Horizonte, MG and SJ - São José dos Campos, SP) in infections and reinfections (homologous or heterologous) with Schistosoma mansoni, the authors confirmed a more accentuated pathogenicity of the SJ strain. All the reinfections showed the presence of typical granulomas of the acute phase, when performed either with the same strain (homologous) or with a different strain (heterologous) of the parasite of the primo infection. The possible mechanisms responsible for reactivation of the immunopathologic response in reinfections are discussed.

Camundongos infectados com 350 cercárias de Schistosoma mansoni (cepa LE) foram tratados com oxamniquina, em dose única de 400 mg/kg, 24,48,72 e 96 horas após a infecção. Quarenta dias após o tratamento, os animais foram submetidos a uma infecção desafio com 80 cercárias, através da pele abdominal e da orelha. O número de vermes imaturos nos grupos de animais tratados 24 e 96 horas após a primeira infecção foi menor do que o do grupo controle, evidenciando que a morte de esquistossômulos por quimioterapia, durante as fases da pele e do pulmão, causa um estado de resistência adquirida.

Mice infected with 350 cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni (LE strain) were treated with oxamniquine, at the dose of 400 mg/kg, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h after infection. Forty days after the treatment, the animals were submitted to a challenge infection with 80 cercariae, through the abdominal and ear skins. The number of immature worms in the animal groups treated 24 and 96 h after the first infection was found to be lower than that in the control group, thus showing that the death of schisto-somes by chemotherapy, at the skin and pulmonary phases, causes an acquired resistance state.

Esquistossômulos com 14 dias de idade, obtidos de camundongos previamente infectados, foram cirurgicamente transferidos para a veia porta de camundongos receptores. Outro grupo de camundongos foi infectado com cercárias por via transcutânea. Noventa dias após, aqueles grupos foram desafiados com 100 cercárias, transcutaneamente, assim como o grupo controle. Duas semanas mais tarde, os animais foram perfundidos e os vermes — maduros e imaturos — contados separadamente. Diferenças estatisticamente significativas foram observadas na recuperação dos vermes imaturos, quando o grupo controle foi comparado com aqueles grupos infectados duas vezes. Nenhuma diferença estatística foi detectada entre o grupo infectado transcutaneamente e o grupo infectado por inoculação do verme na veia porta. Os resultados demonstraram que a supressão da migração do parasito através da pele e dos pulmões não interfere no desenvolvimento da chamada imunidade concomitante.

Fourteen-day-old schistosomula obtained from mice previously infected were surgically transferred to the portal vein of receptor mice. Another group of mice was infected with cercariae by transcutaneous route. After 90 days, those groups were challenged with 100 cercariae, transcutaneously, as well as a control group. Two weeks later the animals were perfused and mature and immature worms counted separately. Statistically significant differences were observed in the recovery of immature worms, when the control group was compared with those twice infected. No statistical difference was detected between the group infected transcutaneously, and that infected by worm inoculation in portal vein. Results demonstrated that suppression of skin and lung migration of the parasite does not interfere with the development of the so called concomitant immunity.