title: High fat diet has a prominent effect upon the course of chronic schistosomiasis mansoni in mice.
abstract: This study investigated whether a long-term high-fat diet has an effect on the outcome of chronic murine schistosomiasis mansoni compared to a standard diet. Swiss Webster female mice (3 weeks old) were fed each diet for up to six months and were then infected with 50 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. Their nutritional status was assessed by monitoring total serum cholesterol and body mass. Infected mice were examined 6-17 weeks post infection to estimate the number of eggs in faeces. Mice were euthanised the next day. Total serum cholesterol was lower in infected mice in comparison to uninfected controls (p = 0.0055). In contrast, body mass (p = 0.003), liver volume (p = 0.0405), spleen volume (p = 0.0124), lung volume (p = 0.0033) and faecal (p = 0.0064) and tissue egg density (p = 0.0002) were significantly higher for infected mice fed a high-fat diet. From these findings, it is suggested that a high-fat diet has a prominent effect on the course of chronic schistosomiasis mansoni in mice.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Laboratório de Helmintologia Romero Lascasas Porto, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Centro Biomédico, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20511- 070, Brasil.
authors.forename: Alba Cristina Miranda de Barros
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Alencar
authors.forename: Renata Heisler
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.forename: Márcia Barbosa
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Aguila
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mandarim-de-Lacerda
authors.forename: Delir Corrêa
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: José Roberto
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Machado-Silva
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D002784:Cholesterol