DETECTION OF GALACTOMANNAN AND COMPLEMENT ACTIVATION IN THE PREGNANT MOUSE DURING EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEMIC ASPERGILLOSIS

Foeto-placental infections are obtained when pregnant mice are challen ged intravenously with conidial suspensions of Aspergillus fumigatus. This experimental model, which is used without any immunosuppressive p retreatment, can be employed to screen for differences in foeto-placen tal infectivity of A. fumigatus strains when the number of colony-form ing units (CFUs) in conidial suspensions used for infection is from 1 x 10(5) to 1 x 10(6). In the foeto-placental unit, hyphal growth was i nitiated at the periphery of the placental disc from which infection s pread to the central parts of the placenta, the extrafoetal membranes and the foetus. Complement activation was noticed as a consequence of pregnancy and conidial inoculation, but was neither dose-dependent nor related to the extent of infection. Galactomannan was present in the plasma of infected mice and, in contrast to the situation in bovine pl acental aspergillosis, fan be used as a good marker of foeto-placental aspergillosis.