Abstract In order to determine whether antigens prepared from adult intestine of Angiostrongylus cantonensis have potential to induce a protective immunity in the rodent hosts, somatic antigens extracted from male and female adults as well as gut antigens isolated from female adults were used to immunize rats against A. cantonensis infection. A 14% reduction in L5 recorvery from brain as well as a 15% reduction in adult recovery from pulmonary artery were achieved in the immunized rats when compared with the control group after infection with 50 larvae. The length of worms recovered from immunized rats was shorter than that in other groups. The larvae recovered from fecal materials in immunized rats were also reduced. In cell proliferation test, the stimulation index of gut antigens increased with times of immunization and exhibited the highest values. However, serum IgG titers were not correlated with protective immune responses. A 84 kDa protein contained in all antigen preparations was recognized by immune serum against gut antigens. Strong positive reactions were detected by indirect immunofluorescent assay in the internal musculature of the body, gut and reproductive tract wall and gut lumen. The composition of gut antigens was similar to that of gut membrane proteins. Immune sera recognized several major gut proteins were also appeared on gut membrane proteins. Further studies are required to provide evidence that gut membrane proteins play in the protective immune response against A. cantonensis infections, including the 84 kDa protein.