Immunogenicity of homogenates of the developmental stages of Litomosoides carinii in albino rats.

Homogenates of different developmental stages of the filarial parasites, L. carinii, emulsified in Freund's complete adjuvant have been examined for their efficacy in conferring immunity to the infection in the albino rats. The results revealed that sonicated preparations of microfilariae and infective larvae induce high resistance to the infection in the animals. In contrast, soluble antigens of adults and sonicated homogenates of adult males were ineffective to induce such resistance. Some resistance seen when sonicated adult worms of both sexes were used as immunogens appears to be due to the microfilarial antigen present in the extracts.