Etiology of the liver granulomatous response in Schistosoma mansoni-infected athymic nude mice.

The effect of schistosome infection on the presence and maturation of splenic T lymphocytes in C3H/HeN nu/nu and nu/+ mice was examined. Spleens of uninfected nu/nu mice contained very low numbers (u to 2%) of T lymphocytes. This percentage did not increase throughout the 10 weeks of the infection. Spleens of uninfected nu/+ littermates contained 28.8% T cells, which decreased to 15.0% by week 10 of the infection. Similarly, whereas spleen cells of normal or infected nu/nu mice were nonresponsive to concanavalin A, the initial high response of nu/+ mice gradually diminished. Both nu/nu and nu/+ spleen cells responded well to lipopolysaccharide initially, but by 10 weeks their responsiveness declined. Sera of five infected nu/nu mice contained no antibodies to egg antigens, and one had a low titer (log2 5.0). In contrast, the mean titer of sera from six nu/+ mice was log2 10.7 Nu/+ mice had typical florid lesions, but nu/nu mice mounted sparse granulomatous reactions around eggs in the liver without evidence for hepatocellular damage. Dispersed liver granulomas of nu/nu mice contained 1.2% T and 20.3% B lymphocytes. Lesions of nu/+ mice contained 12.9% T and 18.4% B cells. Eighty percent of the macrophages from nu/nu and nu/+ granulomas displayed high density/avidity Fc receptors. Production of migration inhibition factor-active lymphokine by liver granulomas and spleens of schistosome-infected nu/nu mice is suggestive of the immune role of B cells in the granulomatous inflammation.