Measurement of IL-10 serum levels in BALB/c mice treated with beta-1,3 polyglucose or sulfadiazine and acutely infected by Toxoplasma gondii

C. M. Picka, M.A. Calvi, S.R. G. Lima, C.A. T. Santos, I.Marcondes-Machado, J.

Acute infection by Toxoplasma gondii leads to suppression of cell-mediated immunity, facilitating chronic infection. One of the causes of immunosuppression is Interleukin-10 (IL-10) production. Glucan is used to stimulate phagocytosis. Our objective was to study IL-10 induction in male BALB/c mice with acute T. gondii BTU-2 strain infection, glucan immunostimulation, and sulfadiazine treatment. Animals were distributed into 7 groups: G1: infected with T. gondii; G2: infected with T. gondii and treated with sulfadiazine; G3: infected with T. gondii and immunostimulated with glucan; G4: infected with T. gondii, immunostimulated with glucan, and treated with sulfadiazine; G5: imunostimulated with glucan; G6: treated with saline; and G7: treated with sulfadiazine. IL-10 levels were determined by ELISA; the highest levels were found in G2, G3 and G4, and the lowest in G1 (p 0.001). Groups G1 to G5 and G7 had substantially higher levels than G6 (p 0.001). In this study, the highest IL-10 levels were found in groups treated with glucan.

1. sulfadiazine
2. glucan
3. Toxoplasma gondii
4. immune response
5. interleukin-10