Experimental congenital toxocara canis: effect on foetal future immune response

ABSTRACT

In this study, pregnant female mice were infected with Toxocara canis eggs at different gestational age, then the offspring were next challenged with Toxocara eggs 6 weeks after birth and their immune response was assessed by estimation of the eosinophilic count and serum IgE concentration. The total larval count [TLC], brain parasitism [BP] and reduction% in TLC were used as criteria for the course of infection. It was found that exposure to infection during pregnancy, whether early or late, led not only to transmission of larvae to the fetus, but also to modulation of its immune response and course of infection when next encountered the parasite after birth. The offspring when compared with control from noninfected mothers were hyporesponsive when infection occurred early during pregnancy and they showed high immune responsiveness when infection was induced late in pregnancy. The potential clinical application of these findings was suggested