Pancreatic lesions in acute experimental Chagas' disease.
BACKGROUND
Chagas' disease is an endemic tropical affliction found from southern United States to Argentina. The acute phase of this disease is difficult to study in man because the symptoms are non-specific and most cases require no medical assistance. Experimental models have been developed for sequential studies, and intense parasitism in all organs and tissues, including the pancreas, have been detected in the acute phase.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the involvement of the pancreas in acute experimental Chagas' disease in a mouse model by histopathological characterization.


METHODS
Ten BALBc mice, about 20 g, injected i.p. with 100 000 forms of the Y strain of Trypanosoma cruzi were used. The animals were sacrificed after 14 days of infection. Fragments of pancreas were processed by conventional paraffin embedding and hematoxylin-eosin staining.


RESULTS
Ruptured pseudocysts and release of parasites to the extracellular medium caused by necrosis of acinar and duct cells and foci of fat were the most striking histopathological features of acute Chagasic pancreatitis.


CONCLUSIONS
Parasitism is the main cause of acute pancreatitis in Chagas' disease.
Corbett
Carlos Eduardo Pereira
CE
Departments of Pathology and Gastroenterology, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Scremin
Luciano Henrique Gazoni
LH
Lombardi
Rafael Arsky
RA
Gama-Rodrigues
Joaquim José
JJ
Okumura
Masayuki
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010179:Pancreas / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology