title: Experimental acute canine monocytic ehrlichiosis: clinicopathological and immunopathological findings.
abstract: Clinical signs, humoral and cellular immune responses, and microscopic and gross tissue alterations resulting from acute experimental Ehrlichia canis infection in dogs were studied. Four dogs were inoculated with E. canis and four were used as uninfected controls. After a 10-14-day incubation period, infected dogs developed pyrexia up to 41 degrees C for 6-8 days. Antibody titers to E. canis antigen were demonstrable in all inoculated dogs at 30 days post-infection. Necropsy of infected animals revealed pale mucous membranes, generalized lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, edema and ascites. Microcopically, the main lesions were: lymphoreticular hyperplasia in cortical areas of lymph nodes and spleenic white pulp, periportal accumulation of mononuclear cells and centrolobular fatty degeneration of the liver. Kidneys presented with glomerulonephritis characterized by interstitial mononuclear infiltration. Immunophenotyping of lymphocytes from lymph nodes and spleen sections displayed alterations in IgG, IgM, CD3+ and CD8+ cells population in infected dogs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathology, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellani, sem no. CEP 14870-000 Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Márcio Botelho
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: de Castro
authors.forename: Rosangela Zacarias
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Lucia Padilha Cury Tomaz
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: de Aquino
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Alessi
authors.forename: Mirela Tinucci
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000662:veterinary; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D004285:Dogs; D041061:Ehrlichia canis / Q000276:immunology*; D016873:Ehrlichiosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006400:Hematocrit / Q000662:veterinary; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D011897:Random Allocation; D013154:Spleen / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan