Immunity to Trichinella spiralis. II. Expression of immunity against adult worms.

Thoracic duct lymphocytes or purified T or B cells obtained from specifically immunized (Lewis x DA)F1 hybrid rats can protect normal recipients against an oral challenge infection with T. spiralis. The immune cells increase the rate of expulsion of adult worms from the small intestine. Immune TDL do not affect adult worm fecundity, as they do in other strains of rats, or the penetration and development of newborn larvae in muscle cells. Irradiated F1 rats reconstituted with either immune TDL or class-enriched populations of immune T or immune B cells also expel adult Trichinella more rapidly than do unprotected controls. However, unfractionated TDL and inocula enriched in B cells are more efficient than T cells in promoting worm expulsion. The above finding, taken in conjunction with the tissue disposition of labelled lymphocytes in the tissues of recipient rats, implies that immune T cells have a 'helper' function in promoting the formation of protective B cells.