Immunological studies on albino rats against crude endotoxins of <i>Aeromonas hydrophila</i>

Abstract

The genus Aeromonas comprises a group of organisms widely distributed in the environment, isolated from water, shallow tube wells, dug wells, piped water supply from sewage, children and adults with diarrhoea, and associated with disease in animals and man. The present work studied the effect of crude endotoxin injection of such bacteria on the immunological response (innate, humoral and cellular) of albino rats and histochemical changes of the nucleoprotein content within the frozen sections of spleen and thymus. Animals were grouped into two groups; the first group was injected intraperiteonally once every 3 days for 21 days with a crude endotoxin of Aeromonas hydrophila (AhE) as a dose of 8 mg protein/ 0.5 ml PBS/ rat, while the second group remained as control group, injected at the same intervals with an equivalent volume (0.5 ml) of PBS. The results showed a depletion in the total WBCs and lymphocytes, while the neutorphils and monocytes fluctuated. The innate immune response was greatly increased. The endotoxin increased the humoral immune response, while the cell-mediated immune response was decreased.


KEY WORDS: Aeromonas, endotoxins, and immunity.


Egyptian Journal of Biology Vol.3(2) 2001: 86-95