Functional depletion of T- and B-memory cells and other lymphoid cell subpopulations-during trypanosomiasis.

T. brucei infection in mice causes generalized immunosuppression with multiple changes in the cells of the lymphoid tissue. Loss of B cell responsiveness to antigens and mitogens, and the induction of suppressive T-cells and macrophages, have been previously reported (Hudson, Byner, Freeman & Terry, 1976; Corsini, Clayton, Askonas & Ogilvie, 1977; Jayawardena & Waksman, 1977).

Membrane fractions of trypanosomes mimic the immunosuppressive and mitogenic effects of living parasites on the host.

African trypanosomiasis in mice leads to profound changes in lymphoid tissues. In an attempt to define the nature of the trypanosome stimulus, we have studied the effect of radio-attenuated trypanosomes and their subcellular fractions in vivo. We find that relatively low doses of irradiated Trypanosoma brucei S42 injected into (CBA/H x C57B1/6)F1 mice mimicked the previously reported effects of infective parasites.

Trypanosoma brucei infection in nude mice: B lymphocyte function is suppressed in the absence of T lymphocytes.

B lymphocyte function was assessed in outbred nude mice and nu/+controls infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei. On day 10 of the infection in outbred nu/nu mice in which the initial wave of parasites was strongly controlled, B cell function was unaltered on enhanced compared with uninfected animals or infected nu/+. In other nu/nu mice unable to control the initial parasitaemia, thymidine incorporation and Ig secretion by spleen cells were increased on day 10 and their response to lipopolysaccharide in vitro negated.

Trypanosomiasis leads to extensive proliferation of B, T and null cells in spleen and bone marrow.

Changes in the distribution of T, B and null cells in the spleen and bone marrow have been studied in inbred mice infected with . Immunofluorescent staining combined with a H-thymidine pulse and autoradiography showed activation of all three cell types. A transient increase in splenic T cells was followed by dramatic increases in B cells (2·5-fold) and in null cells (35-fold).

Suppressor cells and loss of B-cell potential in mice infected with Trypanosoma brucei.

The functional changes in splenic lymphoid populations from mice infected with T. brucei strain S42 were studied throughout the 3 weeks of infection. Within a week of infection, proliferation of B and T cells profoundly increased as shown by 3H-labelled thymidine incorporation and fluorescent staining of surface Ig; the spleen cells secreted high levels of both IgM and IgG immediately cells were put into culture; but with progressing infection this Ig production declined.

Nematodes attacking cultivars of peach in north Carolina.

Criconemoides xenoplax and Meloidogyne incognita were the nematode species most frequently associated with peach in North Carolina. Other nematodes often found in high numbers on that crop were Pratylenehus vulnus, Helicotylenchus spp., Trichodorus christiei, Xiphinema amerieanum and Tylenchorhynchus claytoni.