Comparison of the course of infection with Giardia muris in male and female mice.

The infection with Giardia muris in male and female C57BL/6 mice was characterized by enumerating cyst release in the feces and trophozoite burden in the small intestine. Cyst release differed between males and females during the course of the primary and challenge infections. Males and females released similar numbers of cysts in the feces during the acute phase of the infection. However, the trophozoite burden was significantly higher in males during the same period. Males released cysts in their feces longer than females and trophozoites present in their intestines for a longer period than females. From day 18 of infection the females did not release cysts in their feces, while males continued to do so for at least 60 days. Thus, distinct differences exist between male and female mice in their ability to harbor and eliminate this intestinal parasite.

Disaccharidase activity in male and female C57BL/6 mice infected with Giardia muris.

To elucidate the contribution of host and parasite factors in induction of small-intestinal disaccharidase deficiency in giardiasis, we determined the activity of four enzymes in male and female C57BL/6 mice infected with Giardia muris. Both male and female mice exhibited significant disaccharidase deficiency as shown by decreases in the activities of lactase, sucrase, trehalase and maltase on day 10 after infection. However, by 20 days after infection the females had normal enzyme activities, whereas those in males remained significantly reduced. Prolonged disaccharidase deficiency in the males was related to the course of the primary infection where males had higher parasite loads in the small intestine than did females on day 20 after infection. By day 40 after the primary infection the enzyme activities had returned to normal levels and were similar in male and female mice. Secondary exposure of mice to either the infective cysts or a crude extract of the trophozoites caused disaccharidase deficiency. The females had lower activities of sucrase and trehalase as compared with males after the challenge. Thus, during the primary infection, disaccharidase deficiency was strongly associated with parasite number, whereas after challenge infections the more resistant females had lower enzyme activities in the small intestine than did males.

Serum antibody responses by male and female C57Bl/6 mice infected with Giardia muris.

We compared the levels of serum antibodies in male and female C57Bl/6 mice during the primary and after challenge infection with Giardia muris. Male mice began passing cysts in their faeces earlier than females, and were shedding cysts for over 60 days, while females stopped shedding cysts by day 20 after infection. In both males and females there were significant increases in parasite-specific IgM 10 and 20 days after infection. No differences in parasite-specific serum IgA were observed until 40 days after infection. Parasite-specific IgG (whole) levels were elevated on days 20 and 40 in females, while males showed no significant increases. In addition, females had a much stronger IgG2b and IgG3 response than males. After challenge with either cysts or soluble parasite protein only the females had significant increases in specific anti-parasite IgG2b. Our data show differential ability of males and females to control the infection with G. muris is paralleled by a difference in the anti-parasite serum IgG response of the mice.

Dose response of Cryptosporidium parvum in outbred neonatal CD-1 mice.

Cryptosporidium parvum infectivity in a neonatal CD-1 mouse model was used to determine the dose needed to infect 50% of the population. The 50% infective dose was estimated to be 79 oocysts. It was observed that a mean oral inoculum of 23 oocysts produced infection in 2 of 25 neonatal mice 7 days postinoculation. All animals became infected when the mean oral dose exceeded 310 oocysts per animal. The dose response of C. parvum was modeled with a logit dose-response model suitable for use in water disinfection studies.

Disaccharidase activity in the small intestine of susceptible and resistant mice after primary and challenge infections with Giardia muris.

The activities of four disaccharidases were examined in resistant (C57Bl/6) and susceptible (C3H/HeN) mice during the primary infection with Giardia muris and after challenge with either trophozoite extract or cysts. Significant decreases in lactase, sucrase, trehalase, and maltase activities in C57Bl/6 mice and lactase and sucrase activities in C3H/HeN mice in the anterior 25% of the small intestine were observed on day 10 after infection. The activities of maltase, sucrase, trehalase, and lactase in the jejunum of C3H/HeN mice were significantly reduced after challenge with trophozoite extract, when compared with the uninfected or infected, but not challenged animals. Decreases in enzyme activities of C3H/HeN mice were evident as early as 12 hours after challenge with the extract. The resistant C57Bl/6 mice showed little change in disaccharidase activity after challenge with trophozoite extract. On the other hand, challenge with cysts resulted in a few decreases in disaccharidase activities in both strains of mice: C57Bl/6 mice showed decreases in the duodenum, while disaccharidases of C3H/HeN mice had lower activity more posteriorly. Thus, challenge with parasite antigen results in a more severe disaccharidase deficiency in susceptible hosts when compared with resistant ones.

Phagocytosis of Giardia lamblia trophozoites by cytokine-activated macrophages.

Phagocytosis of Giardia lamblia trophozoites by cytokine-activated and non-activated bone marrow-derived macrophages was examined in vitro. Macrophages treated with recombinant interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ingested a significantly higher number of in vitro-grown trophozoites than untreated macrophages. Maximal uptake of parasites occurred after 4 h and 6 h of incubation where 81.4% and 79.1% of macrophages were positive for trophozoites. Other cytokines tested, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, GM-CSF, CSF-1 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) either alone or in combination with LPS, failed to activate macrophages to phagocytose G. lamblia. The induction of this activated macrophage anti-microbial function was achieved pharmacologically using phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and ionophore A23187. The giardicidal activity of macrophages activated with IFN-gamma and LPS or that induced by PMA and A23187 was inhibited by H-7, indicating the role for protein kinase C in the intracellular events following activation.