Brain schistosomiasis in mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni

• Main Authors: José Roberto Lambertucci, Thiago André Fidelis, Thiago Almeida Pereira, Paulo Marcos Zech Coelho, Neuza Araujo, Márcia Maria de Souza, Geraldo Brasileiro Filho, Fausto Edmundo Lima Pereira, Carlos Mauricio Antunes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2014-05-01
• Series: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: Schistosomiasis; Experimental neuroschistosomiasis; Brain schistosomiasis
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822014000200251&lng=en&tlng=en

Introduction Human neuroschistosomiasis has been reported in the literature, but the possibility of modeling neuroschistosomiasis in mice is controversial. Methods In two research laboratories in Brazil that maintain the Schistosoma mansoni life cycle in rodents, two mice developed signs of brain disease (hemiplegia and spinning), and both were autopsied. Results S. mansoni eggs, both with and without granuloma formation, were observed in the brain and meninges of both mice by optical microscopy. Conclusions This is the first description of eggs in the brains of symptomatic mice that were experimentally infected with S. mansoni. An investigation of experimental neuroschistosomiasis is now feasible.