Rolão Nuno, Cortes Sofia, Gomes-Pereira Sandra, Campino Lenea
Unidade de Leishmanioses, Centro Malária Outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal.
Exp Parasitol. 2007 Mar;115(3):270-6. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2006.09.013. Epub 2006 Nov 7.
The main goal of the present study was to characterise the course of infection and immunological responses developed by Leishmania infantum infected BALB/c mice. Parasite load was determined by Real-time TaqMan PCR while cytokine and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) production were assessed by ELISA. Leishmania DNA was detected in spleen and liver as soon as day 1 post-inoculation (pi) and the parasitism was sustained until the end of the experiment. The cytokine kinetics in spleen and liver was generally associated with the oscillations of parasite load. Overall, it was not observed a distinct Th1 or Th2 pattern of cytokine production during the time of experiment. The infected mice developed a mixed immune response, with concomitant production of IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-10, both in spleen and liver, and both IgG isotypes. However, our results suggest that, compared to liver, the spleen is more susceptible to L. infantum infection.
本研究的主要目的是描述婴儿利什曼原虫感染的BALB/c小鼠的感染过程和免疫反应。通过实时TaqMan PCR测定寄生虫载量，同时通过ELISA评估细胞因子和免疫球蛋白G（IgG）的产生。接种后第1天（pi）即可在脾脏和肝脏中检测到利什曼原虫DNA，并且寄生虫感染一直持续到实验结束。脾脏和肝脏中的细胞因子动力学通常与寄生虫载量的波动相关。总体而言，在实验期间未观察到细胞因子产生的明显Th1或Th2模式。感染的小鼠产生了混合免疫反应，在脾脏和肝脏中同时产生了IFN-γ、IL-4和IL-10，以及两种IgG亚型。然而，我们的结果表明，与肝脏相比，脾脏更容易受到婴儿利什曼原虫的感染。
