title: Morphologic and morphometric analysis of Hepatozoon spp. (Apicomplexa, Hepatozoidae) of snakes.
abstract: Hepatozoon species are the most abundant hemoparasites of snakes. Its identification has been based mainly on the morphologic characterization of the gamonts in the peripheral blood of the vertebrate host and also of the cysts found in the internal organs of the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Using a computerized image analysis system, we studied five species of Hepatozoon from recently captured snakes in Botucatu, State of S o Paulo, Brazil, to evaluate the importance of the morphology and morphometry of the gamonts for the characterization of Hepatozoon species and to analyze the morphologic changes induced in the erythrocytes by the parasite. The studied species were H. terzii of Boa constrictor amarali, Hepatozoon sp. of Crotalus durissusterrificus, H. philodryasi of Philodryas patagoniensis, and H. migonei and H. cyclagrasi of Hydrodynastes gigas. We observed three different groups, one of them including the species H. terzii, H. philodryasi and Hepatozoon sp. of C. durissus terrificus; and the other two consisting of H. migonei and H. cyclagrasi. Degree of alterations in the erythrocytes was variable and it may be useful for characterization of Hepatozoon species.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Biociências, Unesp, 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Tatiana Cristina
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Moço
authors.forename: Lucia Helena
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: O'Dwyer
authors.forename: Fabiana Custódio
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Vilela
authors.forename: Thomaz Henrique
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Barrella
authors.forename: Reinaldo José
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016782:Apicomplexa / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012911:Snakes / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology*