Infection with Eimeria tenella: modulation of lymphocyte blastogenesis by specific antigen, and evidence for immunodepression.

The blastogenic effects of specific parasite antigen and of mitogens on the lymphocytes of chickens infected with Eimeria tenella were examined. Lymphocytes from infected chickens were stimulated to divide when cultured with parasite antigen, but their responses to the T-cell mitogen, phytohemagglutinin (PHA), were depressed throughout the period of infection. Responses to the B-cell mitogen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), were depressed during the first week of infection but enhanced in the second week. The inclusion of plasma samples from infected chickens in the culture medium depressed the responses of normal spleen lymphocytes to PHA, suggesting that soluble suppressor factors are generated during infection.