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

be an important factor to induce proliferation of B cell clones, a prerequisite of antibody production. It has also been shown that the infiltration of the mucosa by mast cells, basophils, eosinophils, the goblet cell hyperplasia of the mucosa, and the spontaneous immune expulsion of intestinal nematodes uniformly show marked T-cell dependency. 2) Mast cells and mast cell functions Of the cellular components much attention is being centered on mucosal mast cells

, which are absent or infrequent in the normal small intestine, but their numbers increase markedly (

mastocytosis) following infection with intestinal nematodes such as Nippostrongylus bra- siliensis, Trichinella spiralis and others. The main areas of study providing information on mast cell responses to helminth infection have been (a) histochemical correlations between THORACIC DUCT B CELLS Neutrophils THORACIC DUCT TCELLS Lymphokines BONE MARROW I EL = inlra-epithelial lymphocytes PP = Peyer" s patch Fig. 1 Immune and inflammatory reactions in protective responses against intestinal worms (adapted from Befus and Bienenstock, 1982, by Wakelin, 1984)