Schmidt E C, Shadduck J A
Infect Immun. 1983 Jun;40(3):936-42. doi: 10.1128/iai.40.3.936-942.1983.
Encephalitozoon cuniculi caused chronic nonlethal infections in euthymic BALB/cAnN mice, whereas athymic BALB/cAnN-nu mice died from infection. Specific, anamnestic, transferable, and acquired responses against E. cuniculi were expressed by infected euthymic mice. Resistance to lethal disease appears to be T-cell dependent. Immune serum failed to protect infected athymic mice, whereas the transfer of T-enriched spleen cells from E. cuniculi-sensitized euthymic donors prevented lethal E. cuniculi infections in athymic mice. These findings indicate that murine encephalitozoonosis may be an excellent system for studies of a chronic infection in an immunologically well-characterized host.
兔脑炎微孢子虫在正常的BALB/cAnN小鼠中引起慢性非致死性感染,而无胸腺的BALB/cAnN-nu小鼠则死于感染。受感染的正常小鼠表现出针对兔脑炎微孢子虫的特异性、回忆性、可转移和获得性反应。对致死性疾病的抵抗力似乎依赖于T细胞。免疫血清未能保护受感染的无胸腺小鼠,而将来自经兔脑炎微孢子虫致敏的正常供体的富含T细胞的脾细胞转移到无胸腺小鼠体内,则可预防致死性兔脑炎微孢子虫感染。这些发现表明,鼠类脑微孢子虫病可能是研究免疫特征明确的宿主体内慢性感染的一个极佳系统。