The maintenance of basal leptin levels during <i>T. spiralis</i> infection results in delayed parasite expulsion.

<p>(<i>A</i>) Serum leptin levels in PBS and leptin treated mice, determined via ELISA. (<i>B</i>) Adult and larval worm burdens in infected mice. (<i>C</i>) IFN-y, IL-4 and IL-13 cytokine levels from Ag-specific re-stimulation of day 8 p.i. mLN cells from PBS and leptin treated mice, grey lines represent naïve levels; determined via cytometric bead array. (<i>D</i>) Mast cells/20 VCU in PBS and leptin treated mice; accessed via toludine blue staining. Data (n = 9 mice per group) are from two independent experiments. *, P<0.05; **, P<0.01; or ***, P<0.005 between naïve and infected groups or for indicated comparisons, error bars represent SE of means.