Toxoplasma gondii: experimental infection in cats vaccinated with 60Co-irradiated tachyzoites.

The effects of 60Co-irradiation on the viability and immunogenicity of RH and Beverley strains of Toxoplasma gondii was examined. While 60Co-irradiated tachyzoites retained invasive activity in mouse embryonal cells and sustained antigenicity in mouse peritoneal macrophages, the parasites did not develop in host cells. Vaccination of mice with 60Co-irradiated tachyzoites of either RH or Beverley strains induced resistance to challenge with a highly virulent strain (RH strain). Vaccination of kittens with 60Co-irradiated tachyzoites of the Beverley strain partially prevented oocyst shedding when challenged with cysts (bradyzoites) from the Beverley strain. But kittens vaccinated with 60Co-irradiated or fixed tachyzoites of the RH strain shed oocysts when challenged with cysts (bradyzoites) from the Beverley strain. These results suggest that the development of protective immunity in feline toxoplasmosis seems to be strain and/or stage-specific.