Examination of the relationship between pathological changes, immunological response and serum protein concentrations in pregnant sheep inoculated with Aspergillus fumigatus

Abstract

Pregnant sheep inoculated with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia developed precipitating and latex agglutinating antibodies to mycelial antigens. The titres of these tended to be higher in those animals developing placental or fetal infection than in those which did not. The concentrations of total serum proteins and of albumin, alpha, beta and gamma globulins did not show any consistent changes which could be related to abortion or placental infection. Lymphocyte transformation tests on whole blood showed significant responses to phytohaemagglutinin but not to A. fumigatus antigens.