Differences in Adult Schistosoma Mansoni Worm Burden Requirements for the Establishment of Resistance to Reinfection in Inbred Mice

Schistosoma mansoni infections of CBA/J and C57BL/6 mice provided the hosts with partial protection against reinfection by S. mansoni cercariae. The level of protection, assayed by perfusion 21-25 days after challenge, varied over the course of infection. After patency the degree of resistance observed in CBA/J mice was related to the adult worm burden harbored by the mice. The same was initially true in C57BL/6 mice. Those C57BL/6 mice which lived until a chronic state of infection were rarely well protected and harbored few female worms. Strain differences were also apparent in that the number of worms required by C57BL/6 mice to establish the same level of protection as CBA/J mice was double that needed by CBA/J mice. Measurements were made of the newly formed egg-induced hepatic granulomas throughout the infection period (up to 30 weeks after infection). The data revealed that although the pattern by which C57BL/6 mice developed maximum granuloma formation and subsequent modulation was identical to that observed in CBA/J mice, C57BL/6 granulomas were consistently half the volume of their counterpart lesions in CBA/J mice.