Adoptive transfer of total and parasite-specific IgE responses in rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis.

Infection of rats with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis has both a parasite-specific and non-specific IgE stimulating effect. Both these responses can be adoptively transferred with thoracic duct lymphocytes (TDL) from infected rats. The character of the IgE response in the recipient rats was related to the stage after infection of the cell donors. TDL from hyperimmune rats adoptively transferred high serum titres of parasite-specific IgE to infected recipient rats and substantially increased the levels of total IgE. However, adoptive immunization with TDL from donors infected 10 days previously did not stimulate parasite-specific IgE and only slightly increased total IgE levels. After cell fractionation the sIg- cells from day 10 TDL increased the level of total IgE but not parasite-specific IgE whereas sIg- cells from hyperimmune TDL did not induce any IgE response unless given with sIg+ cells. The possible reasons for this are discussed.