Animals, parasites and cells

Local 3–6 month-old goats were housed indoors and dewormed twice at 2 weekly intervals with levamisole (8 mg/kg body weight). Fecal sample from each goat was examined by microscopy for helminth eggs after 2 weeks. The animals excreting no eggs were used in the subsequent study.

SD rats (body weight ~150 g) were purchased from the Experimental Animal Center of Jiangsu, P. R. China (Qualified Certificate: SCXK 2008–0004). The animals were raised in a sterilized room and fed sterilized food and water.

Haemonchus contortus strain was kept in the laboratory of veterinary parasitology, Nanjing Agricultural University. Worms were maintained by serial passage in helminth-free goats as described before [16]. The procedures of collection and preservation of eggs, L3, xL3 and male and female adults of H. contortus were performed as described previously [17]. The isolation and culture of goat PBMCs were performed as described in [18].