title: Morphometric study of the fibrosis and mast cell count in the circular colon musculature of chronic Chagas patients with and without megacolon.
abstract: A morphometric study of the circular colon musculature was performed, in which the mast cell count was determined and the connective fibrous tissue in this layer was measured. The objective was to gain better understanding of Chagas megacolon morphology and contribute towards the knowledge of fibrosis pathogenesis in Chagas megas. An evaluation was made of 15 distal sigmoid rings from Chagas patients with megacolon (MCC), 15 without megacolon (CSMC) and 15 non-Chagas patients (NC). The rings were fixed in formol, embedded in paraffin, and 7mm thick sections were cut and stained using Azan-Heidenhain and Giemsa. The mast cell count and fibrosis were greater in the MCC group than in the CSMC and NC groups (p< 0,05; Kruskal-Wallis test) and there was no significant difference between the latter two. The fibrosis and increased mast cell count in the colon musculature of the MCC group possibly indicates that there is a relationship between mastocytosis and fibrosis, as has already been demonstrated in other pathologies.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Simone Wanderley
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.forename: Adilha Misson de Oliveira
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rua
authors.forename: Renata Margarida
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Etchebehere
authors.forename: Cristiane Gobbo
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Cançado
authors.forename: Javier Em lio Lazo
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Chica
authors.forename: Edison Reis
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Sheila Jorge
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Adad
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002452:Cell Count; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D008531:Megacolon / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000473:pathology*