The effect of immunity on the early events in the life-cycle of Eimeria tenella in the caecal mucosa of the chicken.

A comparison was made between the early events (asexual stages) in the life-cycle of Eimeria tenella in specifically immunized and control chickens. Particular attention was paid to the quantitative aspects and to the transport of sporozoites within intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IEL) from the enterocytes of the surface epithelium to the enterocytes of the crypts. There was a moderate decrease in the number of parasites initially seen in the mucosa of the immune birds, suggesting that some of the effects of immunity are exerted before penetration of the surface enterocytes, but the reduction in the numbers of developing parasites was more marked. This latter effect was due, at least partly, to failure of transfer of sporozoites from IELs to crypt enterocytes. These findings are discussed in relation to the efficacy of the immunity induced.