Effect of immunosuppressive or inflammatory agents on lymphatic dilatation in cats infected with Brugia pahangi

Abstract

Cats infected with Brugia pahangi were immunosuppressed and the development of lymphatic pathology, as measured xeroradiographically by dilatation of the vessels, in these animals was compared with that of normally infected cats. Individual cats showed wide variations in response. Niridazole and antilymphocyte serum both reduced dilatation, niridazole being particularly effective in the early stages of infection. When silica, used as an inflammatory agent, was injected subcutaneously in conjunction with worm infection lymphatic dilatation developed, this being potentiated in degree and rate of development as compared with control animals. The possible role of a non-filarial inflammatory response in the development of lymphatic dilatation is discussed.

The Wellcome Trust Lecture: Inflammatory responses to filarial connective tissue parasites

“…There is now a growing consensus that the skin and scrotal changes just described are the result of long-standing protein-rich lymphoedema whether due to filarial infection or to any other less-common cause, i.e. these changes are in no way pathognomonic of filariasis (Casley-Smith & Gaffney, 1981;Dean, Playfair, Denham & Noscoe, 1983). It is, further, still unclear how filarial infection brings about severe, chronic lymph stasis of this kind.…”