Serum IgG antibody response to pneumocystis carinii among immunosuppressed, malnourished and healthy rats

ABSTRACT

In this work, humoral immune responses to Pneumocystis carinii were studied using IFAT during the period of infection and recovery of immunosuppressed and malnourished rats compared to healthy group. Serum IgG antibody titers to the organism were absents in rats administered corticosteroids, but arose after steroid tapering, with disappearance of the organism from their lungs due to reactivation of the immune system. While, in malnourished infected rats, clearance of the organism had occurred after regaining the protein diet with progressive increase in IgG level denoting their immunocompetent state. IgG antibody appeared in the serum of control healthy rats with the progress of age at low non diagnostic level, indicating the presence of dormant parasites in their lungs