STUDIES OF THE RESPONSES OF BASOPHIL AND EOSINOPHIL LEUCOCYTES AND MAST CELLS TO THE NEMATODE <i>TRICHOSTRONGYLUS COLUBRIFORMIS</i>

Abstract

Basophil and eosinophil leucocytes infiltrate the small intestinal lamina propria of guinea-pigs infected with the nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis. By comparing the morphology of both cell types at the site of infection with bone marrow and buffy coat cells, it was found that, after entering the lamina propria, basophils developed an electron lucent halo beneath the granule-limiting membrane while the characteristic orderly periodicity of the granules changed to a fibrillar or amorphous appearance. The granules also tended to coalesce but remained within the cell. Approximately half the eosinophils at the site of infection developed deficiencies in the amorphous outer matrix of their granules but showed no obvious change in the central electron-dense cores.