In vitro cellular immune response in mice and rabbits immunized with Trichinella spiralis antigen.

The possibility of using cell mediated immune response as a diagnostic tool has been investigated with T. spiralis laboratory/model. The feasibility of a in vitro microculture method to measure blast cell activity of lymphoblasts in mice experimentally infected with T. spiralis muscle larvae or immunized with soluble crude antigen and the lymphoproliferative response in immunized rabbits was demonstrated. The obtained results suggest that the cell mediated immune response from blood lymphocytes may be very useful to diagnose early parasite infections.