BMC Veterinary Research (Aug 2017)

Main lesions in the central nervous system of dogs due to Leishmania infantum infection

  • Weline Lopes Macau,
  • Joicy Cortez de Sá,
  • Ana Patrícia de Carvalho da Silva,
  • Alessandra Lima Rocha,
  • Renata Mondêgo-Oliveira,
  • Fábio Henrique Evangelista de Andrade,
  • Caroline Magalhães Cunha,
  • Kátia da Silva Calabrese,
  • Ana Lucia Abreu-Silva

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-017-1174-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 4

Abstract

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Abstract Background Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is endemic in São Luís Maranhão/Brazil and it leads a varied clinical picture, including neurological signs. Results Histopathological evaluation showed that 14 dogs exhibited pathological alterations in at least one of the analyzed areas. Of these, mononuclear inflammatory reaction was the most frequent, although other lesions, such as hemorrhage, chromatolysis and gliosis were also observed. The presence of L. infantum amastigotes was confirmed in eight dogs, identified in four regions: telencephalon, hippocampus, thalamus and caudal colliculus, but only one presented neurological signs. Polymerase chain reaction results detected the DNA of the parasite in 11 samples from seven dogs. The positive areas were the telencephalon, thalamus, hippocampus, cerebellum, caudal and rostral colliculus. Conclusion These results reveal that during canine visceral leishmaniasis, the central nervous system may display some alterations, without necessarily exhibiting clinical neurological manifestations. In addition, the L. infantum parasite has the ability to cross the blood brain barrier and penetrate the central nervous system.

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