title: Morphometric changes in C57BL/6 mice retina infected by Toxoplasma gondii ME 49 strain.
abstract: This study evaluated the morphometric implications in C57BL/6 mouse retina infected by Toxoplasma gondii, ME 49 strain. Twenty C57BL/6 female mice were divided into group 1 (n=8, intraperitoneally infected with 30 cysts of T. gondii ME 49 strain) and group 2 (n=12 non-infected controls). The eyes were enucleated on the 60th day after infection, fixed and processed for light microscopy. Changes in retinal thickness and in the perimeter/area ratio (P/A) of the retinal layers were analyzed by digital morphometry. We considered that P/A was the measurement of retinal architecture distortion induced by toxoplasmosis. This study considered the ganglion cells and nerve fiber layers as a monolayer, thus six layers of retina were evaluated: photoreceptors (PRL), outer nuclear (ONL), outer plexiform (OPL), inner nuclear (INL), inner plexiform (IPL) and ganglion cells/nerve fiber monolayer (GNL). Histological analysis of infected mouse retina showed inflammatory infiltrate, necrosis, glial reaction and distortion of the retina architecture. It also presented increased thickness (167.8±24.9μm versus 121.1±15.4μm, in controls) and increased retinal thickness within the retinitis foci (187.7±16.6μm versus 147.9±12.2μm out of the retinitis foci). A statistically significant difference in P/A was observed between infected and uninfected mouse retinas. The same was observed in PRL, OPL, INL and GNL. Retinal morphometry may be used to demonstrate differences between infected and uninfected mouse retinas.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Hospital São Geraldo - Hospital das Clínicas da UFMG, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Cristina Higino
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Imunomodulação e Protozoologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: calabrese@ioc.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Kátia da Silva
authors.initials: Kda S
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Anatomia Descritiva e Topográfica, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberto Carlos
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Tedesco
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oftalmologia da Faculdade de Medicina da UFMG, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wesley Ribeiro
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Escola de Veterinária da UFMG, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Miguel Houri
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Apoptose, Departamento de Patologia Geral do ICB, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Anilton Cezar
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oftalmologia da Faculdade de Medicina da UFMG, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oréfice
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009336:Necrosis; D012160:Retina / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology*; D012173:Retinitis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000473:pathology*; D014126:Toxoplasmosis, Ocular / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Eye; Mice; Morphometry; Ocular toxoplasmosis