Pepsinogen and protein concentrations were determined in blood samples, collected from the left gastroepiploic artery and vein, and in abomasal lymph from 15 steers naturally infected with Ostertagia ostertagi and 4 uninfected steers. In steers with type-1 ostertagiosis, the concentration gradient between the mucosal interstitium and the blood alone could account for higher than normal serum pepsinogen concentrations. High interstitial pepsinogen concentrations may have resulted from increased epithelial permeability or increased pepsinogen production and secretion. However, in steers with type-2 ostertagiosis, the concentration gradient could not entirely account for the high serum pepsinogen concentrations, suggesting that capillary permeability or surface area may have been altered. Lymphatic uptake contributed pepsinogen to the blood in all infected steers.

Effects of strategic anthelmintic treatment on pathophysiologic and immunologic changes induced by infection with Ostertagia ostertagi and Cooperia oncophora were studied in 2 groups, of 12 calves each: an infected group, inoculated with 200,000 mixed O ostertagi and C oncophora third-stage larvae (L3) on day 1; and an infected-treated group, similarly inoculated, but treated with ivermectin at 9 and 33 days. All calves were also inoculated at 12 weeks with Brucella abortus vaccine, at 13 weeks with bovine rhinotracheitis vaccine (bovine herpesvirus 1), and at 14 weeks with a soluble O ostertagi L3 extract, then were allowed to graze on a contaminated pasture. Four calves from each group were slaughtered at 7, 11, and 19 weeks of the study. Calves of the infected group had significantly (P < 0.05) lower weight gain than did those in the infected-treated group (60.90 kg vs 75.86 kg). They also had high plasma pepsinogen and serum gastrin values, and low serum albumin concentration from 2 or 4 weeks. Calves in the infected-treated group had steady weight gain and no significant changes in albumin and gastrin values. They also had less severe abomasal lesions and higher carcass yield. Compared with calves of the infected-treated group, those of the infected group had significantly (P < 0.05) lower blood lymphocyte reactivity to phytohemagglutinin at 14 and 16 weeks, to concanavalin A at 10 weeks, to pokeweed mitogen at 14 weeks, and to soluble O ostertagi L3 extract at 2, 4, and 14 weeks. They also had significantly (P < 0.05) lower IgG1 concentration to excretory-secretory antigens of the fourth-stage larvae of O ostertagi at 13, 18, and 19 weeks. In addition, they had significantly (P < 0.05) higher total mean eosinophil count. Antibody responses to B abortus and bovine herpesvirus 1, however, were not different between the 2 groups.