Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 22. (Budapest, 1989)

Rat model for studying the demonstration of Pneumocystis carinii Dr. Mária JANKÓ

1

, Dr. Dénes BÁNHEGYI

2 and Dr. Ferenc RÁTZ

3 National Institute of Hygiene, Budapest

1 — „László" Hospital, Budapest

2 — Veterinary Institute, Veterinary and Food Inspection Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,

3 Budapest, Hungary "Rat model for studying the demonstration of Pneumocystis carinii"

. - Jankó, M., Bánhegyi, D. and Rátz, F. - Parasit, hung., 22: 35-39. 1989. ABSTRACT. In recent years Pneumocystis carinii, the causative agent of interstitial plasma cell pneumonia of infants, has attracted increasing Interest as an opportunistic organism associated with AIDS. In this work, P. carinii infection was induced experimentally in rats. This model seems to be suitable for studying still unelucidated questions of this protozoan infection. KEY WORDS: Pneumocystis carinii, rat model, immunosuppression. Until the 1960s, interstitial plasma cell pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii

, (Delanoë, 1912) was known as a disease affecting almost exlusively hypogammaglobulinaemic or agammaglobulinaemic infants. With the spread of immunosuppressive and cytostatic treatment and the recognition of AIDS, cases of P. carinii pneumonia were diagnosed also In adults in numbers increasing from year to year. The incidence of P

. carinii infections in AIDS patients are estimated at 50 to 60% (CLUMECK et al. 1988; PIFER 1984). P. carinii is an ubiquitous protozoon which becomes pathogenic only if the host's natural resistance is impaired. Factors predisposing to the disease Include neoplasms, congenital immunodeficiency, immunosuppressive therapy, and AIDS. The rising number of disease cases diagnosed in adults stimulated researchers to study the pathology, immunology and therapy of P. carinii pneumonia (BLUMENFELD and GRTFFISS 1989; PIFER et al. 1984; SMALL et al. 1985; SZABADOS et al. 1985). In part of the studies P. carinii infection induced in experimental animals by immunosuppression served as model. Immunosuppression was induced by oral, subcutaneous or transbronchial administration of cortisone acetate (BARTLETT et al. 1988; BARTLETT et al. 1987; WALZER et al. 1977). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 15 female Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 140 to 170 g, were used in this experiment . Two groups were formed: one contained 10 rats and the other consisted of 5 animals. The rats were caged individually. The 10 rats belonging to the first group were subjected to immunosuppressive treatment and the 5 animals of the second group served as control.