Abstract Mycoplasma pulmonis and muris infections have been associated with several diseases in conventionally housed laboratory rat and mice colonies. In naturally infected of mycoplasma pulmonis in mice and rat colonies, the respiratory organ appears to be the favored site of colonization; so, it was not surprising to see that infection spread from the site of urogenital tract to the respirat...

Sequence alignment of a polymerase chain reaction-amplified 713-base pair region of the Cryptosporidium 18S rDNA gene was carried out on 15 captive reptile isolates from different geographic locations and compared to both Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium muris isolates. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was also performed on a smaller number of these samples. The data g...

Cryptosporidium andersoni and Cryptosporidium muris infections have been found in the mice and/or cattle. The oocysts of C. andersoni and C. muris have been sporadically detected in human feces, but the infectious capacity and features have been unknown, because of the scarcity of reports involving human infections. To assess the infectivity and the clinical and pathological features of C. ande...

The aim of this work was to identify the T cell subset (helper/inducer or cytotoxic/suppressor) that plays a major part in the clearance of Giardia muris infection. BALB/c mice were selectively depleted of helper/inducer (Th/i) or cytotoxic/suppressor (Tc/s) T cells, by treatment with rat IgG monoclonal antibodies directed against the Th/i cell surface antigen L3T4, or against the Tc/s cell sur...

Ehrlichia species can cause life-threatening infections or chronic persistent infections. Mechanisms of protective immunity were examined in an Ehrlichia muris mouse model of monocytotropic ehrlichiosis. C57BL/6 mice possessed strong genetic resistance to E. muris of an undetermined mechanism. CD8 T lymphocytes were particularly important, as revealed by 81% fatalities for E. muris-infected, ma...

To determine the molecular phylogenic location of Plagiorchis muris, 28S D1 ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) were sequenced and compared with other trematodes in the family Plagiorchiidae. The 28S D1 tree of P. muris was found to be closely related to those of P. elegans and other Plagiorchis species. And, the mtCOI tree also showed that P. muris is ...

Studies with rodents infected with Trichinella spiralis, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, Nippostronglyus brasiliensis, and Trichuris muris have provided considerable information about immune mechanisms that protect against parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes. Four generalizations can be made: 1. CD4+ T cells are critical for host protection; 2. IL-12 and IFN-gamma inhibit protective immunity; 3. IL...

T-helper 2 (Th2) cell responses defend against parasites. Although dendritic cells (DCs) are vital for the induction of T-cell responses, the DC subpopulations that induce Th2 cells in the intestine are unidentified. Here we show that intestinal Th2 responses against Trichuris muris worms and Schistosoma mansoni eggs do not develop in mice with IRF-4-deficient DCs (IRF-4f/f CD11c-cre). Adoptive...

Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) have a well-characterized role in limiting autoimmunity and dampening deleterious immune responses. However, a potential consequence of the immunosuppressive function of Tregs can be the limitation of protective immunity to infectious pathogens. Parasitic infections are a potent stimulus for the generation of Treg responses, which may be beneficial to both th...