290 Abstracts / Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 128 (2009) 211–347 the effectiveness of an immunostimulant combined with anthelmintic on experimental helminthiasis through IgE analysis, T cell proliferation assay and fecal egg counts (FEC). Crossbred 12-month-old male sheep were grouped into four groups: (I) animals treated with LPS and Propi- onibacterium acnes and anthelminthic; (II) animals treated with Propionibacterium acnes and anthelminthic; (III) ani- mals treated with only anthelmintic; and (IV) animals treated with a sterile saline solution 0.9%, as untreated controls. All the animals received 10,000 infective larvae (L3) orally on day 0 and were treated with when the fecal egg counts peaked at 35 days; that is, the treat- ment was administered on the 35th, 63rd and 67th days after infection. Fecal and blood samples were collected weekly for fecal egg counts (FEC), IgE antibodies detec- tion and T cell proliferation assay. The results showed that PBMC from group I, II, III displayed enhanced pro- liferation response to Concanavalina-A with maximal response observed on day 28 and 35 with stimulation indices significantly higher in group II than group IV (p = 0.0121). During the infection, the animals from group I and II had higher IgE antibody levels in serum than other groups (p < 0.05). Significant reduction in the fecal egg counts, determined 42 days after infection, were observed in groups I, II and III compared with group IV (I × IV p = 0.0083; II × IV p = 0. 0081 and III × IV p = 0.0013). These results suggest that the anthelminthic combined with immunostimulant can be effective for the treatment of gastrointestinal sheep nematodes by stimulation of IgE antibodies and unspecific immune response. doi:10.1016/j.vetimm.2008.10.170 Adjuvant effect of LPS and propionibacterium acnes on experimental gastrointestinal nematode infestation in sheep S. Chen 1 , L.G. Ricca 1 , M.F. Martins 1 , M. Garcia 1 , R.Z. Ananias 2 , J.S. Mussalem 2 , C.C. Squaiella 2 , I. Longo- Maugeri 2 , L.C.J. Abel ∗ 1 Curso de Medicina Veterinária-Universidade Paulista-UNIP, Rua Dr Bacelar 1212, São Paulo, SP 05726-100, Brazil 2 Disciplina de Imunologia do Depto de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Keywords: Helminthiasis; Lymphocytes; Adjuvant; Sheep E-mail address: luciaabel@uol.com.br (L.C.J. Abel). Species: Ruminants (sheep) Gastrointestinal helminthic infection is one of the most important sheep diseases worldwide which can cause anemia, anorexia, depression, progressive weight loss and eventual death. The emergence of anthelmintic resistance in sheep has led to seek new therapeutic alter- natives to control helminthiasis in sheep. Recent reports demonstrated that LPS and Propionibacterium acnes have an adjuvant effect in the innate and acquired immune response. The overall aim of this study was to evaluate the adjuvant effect of LPS and Propionibacterium acnes in the induction of experimental helminthiasis in sheep. Crossbred male sheep, 12–18 months old, were divided into two groups. Group I, received LPS and Propionibac- terium acnes and group II received sterile saline 0.9%. Both groups were infected with 10,000 infective larvae (L3) orally on day 0. Parasitological, haematological examina- tions and T cell proliferation assay were made on days 0, 14, 21, 28, 35 after infection. The results showed that fecal egg counts were significantly lower in group I than group II (p < 0.05). The mean fecal egg count reached a peak at 35 days. The hematological parameters showed an increase in the leucocytes, eosinophils, lymphocytes at the 14th, 21th and 35th day in the animals from Group II treated with immunostimulant when compared to Group I (p < 0.05) and the response of PBMC to mitogen (Conc-A) were higher in the animals from Group II (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that immunostimulants can be used as a strategy to control helminthiasis in sheep. A significant correlation between the LPS and P. acnes admin- istration and number of worms was also observed. doi:10.1016/j.vetimm.2008.10.171 Inhibition of Haemonchus contortus hemoglobinolytic activities by N-alkyl ferulates from Maproumea guianen- sis Sílvia C.O. Santos 1,4,∗ , Juceni P. David 1,4 , Jorge M. David 2,4 , Jorge A. López 1,4 , Farouk Zacharias 3,4 , Maria T.B. Guedes 3,4 , Fernanda W. de Mendonc ¸ a Lima 1,4 1 Faculdade de Farmácia-UFBA, Brazil 2 Instituto de Química-UFBA, Brazil 3 Escola de Medicina Veterinária-UFBA, Brazil 4 Empresa Baiana de Desenvolvimento Agrícola-EBDA, Brazil Keywords: Proteases; Haemonchus; Hemoglobinolytic; Maproumea; N-alkyl ferulates Species: Ruminants Introduction and objectives: Haemonchus contortus is a blood-sucking nematode occurring in the fourth stomach of sheep and other ruminants. The H. contortus L4 larvae and adults cause considerable damage to the mucosal lin- ing of the infected sheep abomasum, resulting in extensive hemorrhages and severe chronic anemia. Proteinases from adult H. Contortus degrade hemoglobin (Hb) and this degra- dation is, in part, due to cysteine- and aspartic proteinases, but, probably, also by metallo- and serine proteinases (McKerrow et al., 2000; Redmond and Windham, 2005). In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory effect on hemoglobinolytic activity of H. Contortus proteases in different products obtained from semi-arid native plants of Bahia, Brazil. Material and methods: For standardization of the nematode hemoglobinolytic activities, lysates (8 mg/mL of protein) were incubated with a solution of goat Hb 10.5 mg/mL at 37 ◦ C over night in a citrate phosphate buffer pH 5.0 with 2-ME 2 mM, in a final volume of 500 L. Control of Hb was done by incubating the protein without lysate, in the same conditions. The products of hemoglobin hydrol-