ABSTRACT
An antigen characterization was carried out by the method of two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis, and on this basis the antigen community and the antigenic differences between the 3 Trichomonas species parasitic in man were investigated. In the homologous antigen-antibody-systems a maximum number of precipitation curves is formed--21 in T. vaginalis and 20 each in T. tenax and T. hominis. According to our setting of the experiment T. vaginalis has 5 specific antigens in regard to T. tenax and 3 in regard to T. hominis. T. tenax has 2 specific antigens in regard to T. vaginalis and 7 in regard to T. hominis, T. hominis has 2 specific antigens in regard to T. vaginalis and 3 in regard to T. tenax. The presence of antigenic differences is important for the immunological characterization of the 3 species and demonstrates their validity.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Protozoan/analysis , Trichomonas vaginalis/immunology , Trichomonas/immunology , Animals , Immunoelectrophoresis, Two-DimensionalABSTRACT
Infection with Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in rats infested 20 days earlier with Trichinella spiralis developed more slowly, the clinical and pathoanatomic changes in the joints were expressed to a less extend, and the mortality rate was lower. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate, the precipitin formation and the phagocytic activity of the macrophages did not considerably change. Experiments carried out to elucidate this fact did not reveal any antigenic or antagonistic relationships between parasite and bacterium nor any protective effect of the host's serum. The inhibitory influence of corticosteroids on the defence forces was not completely manifested in the rats infested. This fact might be explained by interrelations depending both on the cycle of helminth development and on the non-specific immunological reactivity of the organism, the latter being stimulated by the helminth invasion.
