Effect of anti-thymocyte serum on the eosinophil and lysophospholipase responses in mice infected with Trichinella spiralis.

Anti-thymocyte serum (ATS) was administered to CD-1 mice infected with 100 Trichinella spiralis larvae and its effects on intestinal lysophospholipase (EC 3.1.1.5) activity, peripheral blood lymphocytes and bone marrow, peripheral blood and intestinal eosinophilia were assayed in the same experimental animal. The ATS caused a significant suppression of both the tissue lysophospholipase response and eosinophilia, in all three compartments, when compared to the values found in infected mice that were either treated with normal rabbit serum (NRS) or untreated. The suppressed eosinophil response and reduced lysophospholipase activity demonstrated a close temporal relation throughout the experiment. These findings support the hypothesis that helminth parasite-induced eosinophilia is the cause of increased lysophospholipase activity present in parasitized tissue and that the responses are thymus cell dependent.