Intestinal parameters in acute murine schistosomiasis mansoni.
Intestinal involvement is very important in acute murine schistosomiasis mansoni. Nevertheless intestinal parameters have not previously been used in assessing the severity of intestinal disease. The present observations demonstrate that in Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice, the mean total egg count of the small intestine and the mean number of eggs per g in the small and the large intestine were higher than the corresponding egg counts in the liver. The increase in weight of the small intestines of infected compared with uninfected mice was greater than the increase in weight of the corresponding livers. The small intestines from infected mice were considerably shorter than those from uninfected mice. These findings argue for the small intestine as a valuable organ for pathophysiological studies in acute murine schistosomiasis mansoni and simple parameters such as total egg count of the small intestine, the number of eggs per g tissue in small and large intestine and the weight and length of the small intestine, are recommended.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D007420:Intestine, Large / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009929:Organ Size; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology