Cellular immunity of mice to Leishmania donovani in vitro: lymphokine-mediated killing of intracellular parasites in macrophages.

Leishmania donovani, an intracellular protozoan, causes kala-azar by parasitizing the macrophages of its mammalian host. Outbred NCS and CD-1 mice develop immunity to this parasite. This immunity was demonstrable when supernatant fluids from cultured splenic lymphocytes were added to infected macrophages. Only the lymphokine preparations from infected mice showed significant leishmanicidal activity. Mice receiving multiple inocula were more potent producers of leishmanicidal lymphokines than were those receiving single inocula. The expression of leishmanicidal activity in our system required continuous presence of the lymphokine preparation and was independent of trypsin- or neuraminidase-sensitive receptors of the macrophages. Light and electron microscopy revealed that, in the presence of lymphokines, macrophages appeared to be "activated," and intracellular leishmanias developed specific subcellular lesions in the kinetoplast-mitochondria. A time-course study showed that cultivation of the lymphocytes for 1 1/2 days completed the release of their leishmanicidal lymphokines which were heat-labile molecules larger than 50,000 daltons.