Abstract
The defensive role of granuloma againstSporothrix schenckii infection was studied histopathologically using nude(nu/nu) and their heterozygous(nu/+) littermates.
Three strains ofS. schenckii (Sp.-1, Sp-17 and Sp-56) were used in this experiment. Each mouse was inoculated into a tail vein with 106 yeast cells of the Sp-1, Sp-17 or Sp-56. The mice were sacrificed at adequate intervals until the 30th day and histopathological sections were prepared from various organs.
The numbers of lesions and yeast cells were counted using the liver sections. Furthermore, an experiment of lymph node cell transfer and immunological examinations were carried out.
As results the susceptibility of mice to three strains were conspicuously different from each other. The Sp-1 showed the strongest pathogenicity and the Sp-56, the weakest. The susceptibility of the nu/nu mice inoculated with the Sp-1 was much higher than that of the nu/+ mice and the difference was due to the killing functions of granuloma. Even though about two days’ delay was observed in the granuloma formation in the nu/nu mice in comparison with that in the nu/+ mice, these granulomata could not be distinguished from those of the nu/+ mice. However, functionally there was a definite difference between the granulomata formed in the nu/+ and nu/nu mice. Mononuclear cells forming the granulomata in the nu/nu mice did not have the ability to kill the yeast cells they had engulfed. Cooperation with T-lymphocytes was necessary for the killing of the yeast cells. A significant response of MIF developed in the immunocompetent mice 11 days after inoculation of the Sp-56, and that day nearly coincided with the day when yeast cells of the Sp-1 began to be destroyed in the granulomata. It was also confirmed by the experiment of lymph node cell transfer that T-cell functions were indispensable for the killing of the yeast cells by mononuclear cells.
From these results the authors hypothesize that the mononuclear cells activated with T-lymphocytes could play a leading role as the defense mechanism of mice againstS. schenckii infection.
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Miyaji, M., Nishimura, K. Defensive role of granuloma againstSporothrix schenckii infection. Mycopathologia 80, 117–124 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02993854
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02993854