TY - JOUR

T1 - Experimental Salmonella typhimurium infections in rats. I

T2 - Influence of thymus on the course of infection

AU - Hougen, H P

AU - Jensen, E T

AU - Klausen, B

PY - 1989/9

Y1 - 1989/9

N2 - The course of experimentally induced Salmonella typhimurium infection was studied in three groups of inbred LEW rats: homozygous +/+, athymic rnu/rnu and isogeneic thymus-grafted rnu/rnu rats. In the first experiment the animals were inoculated intraperitoneally with 10(8) bacteria and all animals became severely septicemic and died within a week of inoculation, irrespective of presence or absence of thymus. In the second experiment the animals were inoculated with 10(6) bacteria, and both euthymic and thymus-grafted animals responded with high titres of anti bacterial antibodies while these were very low in the athymic nude animals. Polyclonal antibody production was only observed in the euthymic animals and only regarding IgG. Athymic rats were not able to clear the infection, while the thymus-grafted animals reacted like euthymic rats: Very few animals housed the bacteria four weeks after inoculation, and no bacteria could be detected after four months. Immunohistochemical studies of lymphoid organs revealed that the infection caused a drop in the percentages of T non-helper cells, indicating low suppressor activity. The study shows that athymic nude rats are well suited for studies of infectious diseases in immune deficient hosts, and that whole neonatally isogeneic thymus grafting is a good way of reconstituting these animals immunologically.

AB - The course of experimentally induced Salmonella typhimurium infection was studied in three groups of inbred LEW rats: homozygous +/+, athymic rnu/rnu and isogeneic thymus-grafted rnu/rnu rats. In the first experiment the animals were inoculated intraperitoneally with 10(8) bacteria and all animals became severely septicemic and died within a week of inoculation, irrespective of presence or absence of thymus. In the second experiment the animals were inoculated with 10(6) bacteria, and both euthymic and thymus-grafted animals responded with high titres of anti bacterial antibodies while these were very low in the athymic nude animals. Polyclonal antibody production was only observed in the euthymic animals and only regarding IgG. Athymic rats were not able to clear the infection, while the thymus-grafted animals reacted like euthymic rats: Very few animals housed the bacteria four weeks after inoculation, and no bacteria could be detected after four months. Immunohistochemical studies of lymphoid organs revealed that the infection caused a drop in the percentages of T non-helper cells, indicating low suppressor activity. The study shows that athymic nude rats are well suited for studies of infectious diseases in immune deficient hosts, and that whole neonatally isogeneic thymus grafting is a good way of reconstituting these animals immunologically.

KW - Animals

KW - Antibodies, Bacterial

KW - Antigens, Differentiation

KW - Immunoglobulin G

KW - Immunoglobulin M

KW - Leukocyte Count

KW - Lymph Nodes

KW - Male

KW - Rats

KW - Rats, Nude

KW - Salmonella Infections, Animal

KW - Salmonella typhimurium

KW - Spleen

KW - Thymus Gland

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 2675938

VL - 97

SP - 825

EP - 832

JO - A P M I S. Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica

JF - A P M I S. Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica

SN - 0903-4641

IS - 9

ER -