title: Schistosoma mansoni: the effect of dexamethasone on the cercaria-schistosomulum transformation, in vivo.
abstract: Treatment with dexamethasone (DMS) in the early phases of the experimental Schistosoma mansoni infection causes an indirect effect on the cercaria-schistosomulum transformation process. This is observed when naive albino mice are treated with that drug (50 mg/Kg, subcutaneously) and infected intraperitoneally 01 hour later with about 500 S. mansoni cercariae (LE strain). An inhibition in the host cell adhesion to the larvae, with a simultaneous delay in the cercaria-schistosomulum transformation, is observed. This effect is probably due to a blockade of the neutrophil migration to the peritoneal cavity of mice, by an impairment of the release of chemotactic substances. Such delay probably favors the killing of S. mansoni larvae, still in the transformation process, by the vertebrate host defenses, as the complement system.
authors.affiliation: Grupo Interdepartamental de Estudos sobre Esquistossomose/Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Melo
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Hermeto
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bicalho
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Favaretto
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects; D010529:Peritoneal Cavity / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003907:Dexamethasone