title: Brain schistosomiasis in mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human neuroschistosomiasis has been reported in the literature, but the possibility of modeling neuroschistosomiasis in mice is controversial.
  
  
  METHODS
  In two research laboratories in Brazil that maintain the Schistosoma mansoni life cycle in rodents, two mice developed signs of brain disease (hemiplegia and spinning), and both were autopsied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  S. mansoni eggs, both with and without granuloma formation, were observed in the brain and meninges of both mice by optical microscopy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first description of eggs in the brains of symptomatic mice that were experimentally infected with S. mansoni. An investigation of experimental neuroschistosomiasis is now feasible.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: José Roberto
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lambertucci
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Thiago André
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Fidelis
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomia Patológica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Thiago Almeida
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas René-Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Paulo Marcos Zech
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas René-Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Neuza
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.affiliation: Durham, Durham, North Carolin, USA.
authors.forename: Márcia Maria de
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomia Patológica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Geraldo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brasileiro Filho
authors.affiliation: Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fausto Edmundo Lima
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BRAZIL.
authors.forename: Carlos Mauricio
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Antunes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D020818:Neuroschistosomiasis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology