Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 19. (Budapest, 1986)

One of the mice infected in advanced pregnancy delivered viable, trypanosoma-free offspring (as shown by examination of the blood) on PI day 4. These mice develop well if we give them into nursing, but they will remain as susceptible to trypanosomes as other mice. It can be seen that T. equiperdum can not be transmitted to the offspring in spite of the mother's fatal septicaemia. This fact was observed in the offspring of six mice that had been infected in late pregnancy. According to data of the literature, trypanosomes of other species are alsc transmitted to the offspring only exceptionally (MURALEEDHARAN and SRLNIVAS, 1985; PAIKNE and DHAKE, 1972). It is very difficult to maintain T. equiperdum in mice. At 3- to 5-day intervals the trypanosomes must be passaged by inoculating high dilutions of the agonizing mice's blood into th« skin of the back of other mice, since in carcases or in citrated blood the parasites die withii a short time. In fresh carcases they survive for 1 hour, while in the heart blood of mous> carcases stored at +4°C for 2 to 3 hours. In such cases, the trypanosomes still show som' motility among the red blood cells of the heart blood. Autolysed, disintegrated trypanosome can not be passaged successfully. To prolong the passages of trypanosomes with at least few days, different methods of inoculation have been tried out. Table 2 Daily death rate in groups of 9 or 10 mice infected with 3x10^ trypanosomes by different routes Methods of inoculation 1 2 Number of deaths on PI days 7 8 Numbf of sur vi vors Methods of inoculation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Numbf of sur vi vors Intramuscular 2 6 1 0 Intratesticular 1 5 3 0 Intravaginal 1 9 Intraconjunctival 1 1 8 Intradermal 1 3 5 Subcutaneous control 2 8 0 It is clear from Table 2 that only mice inoculated intraconjunctivally or intradermally s vive about 2 days longer. It is apparent that in these cases only part of the applied tryps some suspension could have entered the organism, or even less, since the majority of mice remained alive. Following challenge, these surviving mice died similarly to the treated ones. It is interesting that in the intravaginally infected mice the applied dose of trypanosc could not produce septicaemia (in horses intravaginal is the only route of infection). In mice treated simultaneously with trypanosomes and antibody (immune serum to T. f perdu m either raised in rabbits or obtained from infected, resistant rodents) infection prolonged by several days. Moreover, in the presence of high antibody titres a low infe dose failed to result in fatal infection (Table 3). It has been revealed that normal rabbit serum and that of Egyptian spiny mice (this is ni dicated in the Table) have no adverse effect on the trypanosomes: mice given normal s simultaneously with infection died at the same time as the control ones without serum t ment. Thus, antibodies can prolong the course of infection with a few days. However involves the risk that trypanosomes inoculated in a low dose into mice, simultaneously t ed with serum will not multiply. The significance of these mouse protection tests is that longation of the pathological process or the failure of trypanosome multiplication in treated with blood sera from rodents (voles (RWcj^^u^_aj*valis), Egyptian spiny mouse líiyj-Pi^üiPil?!)' mongol mouse (Merionesjmßuiculatuj) and degus (Oc^don_degus), etc. our forthcoming publications) resistant to T. equiperdum means that in resistant roden process is still active, and varying numbers of trypanosomes are still present in the c