Immunisation of mice against Taenia taeniaeformis using antigens prepared from T. pisiformis and T. hydatigena eggs or oncospheres.

Experiments were carried out to investigation the degree of immunity stimulated against Taenia taeniaeformis infection in mice by prior administration of eggs or ultrasonically disrupted oncospheres of T. pisiformis or T. hydatigena. Sonicated oncospheral antigens were given either orally or by subcutaneous injection in Freund's complete adjuvant, and eggs were given orally. Three inbred strains of mice with varying degrees of innate resistance to initial infection with T. taeniaeformis were used in the experiments. These were the moderately resistant BALB/c, moderately susceptible CBA/H, and highly susceptible C3H/He strains. It was found that BALB/c mice developed high levels of immunity when immunised with either T. pisiformis or T. hydatigena eggs, or with sonicated oncospheres administered orally or parenterally. CBA/H mice developed moderate immunity, and C3H/He mice generally did not develop a satisfactory level of resistance. the implication of these findings with respect to immunisation of outbred animals against natural infection with larval cestodes using antigen prepared from the oncospheres of heterologous parasite species is discussed.