Portal shunting and resistance to Schistosoma mansoni in 129 strain mice

Parasitology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Coulson ◽  
R. A. Wilson

SummaryThe integrity of the hepatic portal vasculature was examined, relative to the resistance to Schistosoma mansoni observed in 68°0 of 129/Ola mice. The passage of microspheres to the lungs, following their injection via the superior mesenteric vein, indicated the presence of shunts in the majority of both naive and infected mice. There was a negative association between shunting of microspheres to the lungs and paucity of liver worms at 28/35 days post-infection. Schistosomula accumulated in the livers of resistant mice at a slower rate than in susceptible animals, and after day 21 relocated to the lungs. Many lung schistosomula injected via the superior mesenteric passed immediately to the lungs; the shunts thus greatly reduce the probability of trapping in the liver. Some parasites migrated back from the lungs, successfully lodged in the liver and began to feed on blood. Latex infusion demonstrated the location of large intrahepatic connections between the portal and hepatic veins. We suggest that as these liver worms grow, migrating upstream into progressively larger vessels, they reach the connections, pass out of the hepatic portal system, and relocate to the lungs. The presence of the natural shunts thus accounts for the resistant status of the mice.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andressa Gonçalves Amorim ◽  
Fernanda Alves Barbosa Pagio ◽  
Rodrigo Neves Ferreira ◽  
Antônio Chambô Filho

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection that is highly prevalent worldwide, with a variety of species being responsible for causing the disease. In Brazil, however, the only identified species isSchistosoma mansoni. The adult parasites inhabit the blood vessels of the hepatic portal system of the main host. The disease may range from being asymptomatic to provoking liver damage or portal hypertension. Furthermore, ectopic schistosomiasis may develop, and several hypotheses have been raised to explain the occurrence of the disease. This paper describes two cases, one in a 39-year-old woman and the other in a 47-year-old woman. Both had similar symptoms of pain and abdominal distension caused by a large abdominal/pelvic mass. Histopathology of the ovary showed a mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the intestinal type in the first patient and a papillary serous carcinoma in the second, with both tumors containing viable eggs ofSchistosoma mansoni. The neoplasms probably serve as a migratory route for the adult parasites and the embolization of eggs. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence to confirm the malignization of a benign lesion due to the presence ofSchistosoma mansoni. Few cases have been reported in the international literature on the association between ovarian schistosomiasis and neoplasms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.L.T Mati ◽  
R.M. Freitas ◽  
R.S. Bicalho ◽  
A.L. Melo

AbstractMorphometric analysis of Schistosoma mansoni male worms obtained from AKR/J and Swiss mice was carried out. Rodents infected by the intraperitoneal route with 80 cercariae of the schistosome (LE strain) were killed by cervical dislocation at 45 and 60 days post-infection and both peritoneal lavage and perfusion of the portal system were performed for the recovery of adult worms. Characteristics including total body length, the distance between oral and ventral suckers, extension of testicular mass and the number of testes were considered in the morphological analysis. Changes that occurred in S. mansoni recovered from the peritoneal cavity or from the portal system of AKR/J and Swiss mice included total body length and reproductive characteristics. Significant morphometric alterations were also observed when worms recovered from the portal system of both strains of mice were compared with the schistosomes obtained from hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), the vertebrate host in which the LE strain had been adapted and maintained by successive passages for more than four decades. The present results reinforce the idea that S. mansoni has high plastic potential and adaptive capacity.


Parasitology ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A Wilson ◽  
Patricia S. Coulson ◽  
B Dixon

SUMMARYThe migration of the schistosomula ofSchistosoma mansonilabelled with [75Se] has been followed from the skin to the hepatic portal system. Parasites were detected in all mouse tissues by compressed organ autoradiography. Two separate experiments were performed to track parasites in normal mice, and in mice previously vaccinated with irradiated cercariae. In normal mice, the profile of numbers of autoradiographic foci detected in the skin, lungs, systemic and splanchnic organs was described with time post-infection. The distribution of parasites to systemic organs, following exit from the lungs, paralleled the fractional distribution of cardiac output. Accumulation of schistosomula in the hepatic portal system was complete by day 21 post-infection. Only 2–3 passes of parasites around the vascular system would be required to produce the hepatic portal population. No significant decline in total foci was detected in the first 12 days post-infection. The majority of parasite elimination appeared to occur in the lungs as late as day 21, with lesser proportions in the systemic organs and skin infection site. The pattern of migration in vaccinated mice was similar to that in normal animals. One difference observed was the longer duration of stay in the skin; however, the majority of parasites eventually reached the lungs. The systemic phase of migration occurred on a reduced scale, as did accumulation of parasites in the hepatic portal system. The decline in total foci in vaccinated mice commenced approximately 7 days earlier than in normal mice and proceeded to a lower end-point. Again the majority of parasite elimination appeared to occur in the lungs with lesser proportions in the systemic organs and skin infection site. It is suggested that resistance to reinfection in vaccinated mice has two additive components which combine to retard the migration of schistosomula within the vasculature, preventing them from reaching the hepatic portal system.


Parasitology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ruth Lawson ◽  
R. A. Wilson

SUMMARYA variety of measurements was made on small samples of schistosomula recovered from the skin, lungs and hepatic portal system of percutaneously infected mice, on the basis of which development could be divided into a migration and a growth phase. The density of schistosomula, estimated using a Ficoll gradient, was found not to vary significantly between Day 0 and Day 24 post-infection, having a mean value of 1·077. The reduced weight was measured by means of a Cartesian diver balance and used in conjunction with density to estimate the change in wet weight of schistosomula. Wet weight was found to decline slightly during the migration phase and to increase exponentially following arrival of schistosomula in the hepatic portal system. No change in nitrogen content was detected during migration but there was a rapid increase after arrival in the hepatic portal system. The rate of oxygen consumption, measured by Cartesian diver respirometer, declined significantly during migration and then increased exponentially after arrival of worms in the hepatic portal system. No change was detected in the lactic dehydrogenase activity of migrating worms but again, an exponential increase occurred after entry into the hepatic portal system. It was concluded that the migrating schistosomulum is in a semi-quiescent metabolic state, although it possesses the ability to take up nutrients and undergoes morphological changes. Growth is triggered by an unknown mechanism after arrival in the hepatic portal system. Examination of the various sets of data suggests that it is initiated between 10 and 11 days post-infection in the most advanced schistosomula.


Parasitology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Smithers ◽  
K. Gammage

SummaryNew or improved techniques for recovering Schistosoma mansoni from the skin, lungs and liver have enabled us to trace the attrition of a challenge infection in naive (i.e. previously uninfected) and chronically infected mice. Within each experiment, the numbers of schistosomes recovered from the skin of naive mice on day 2 after challenge or from the skin and lungs on days 3, 4 or 5, did not differ significantly from the numbers recovered from the liver on days 14, 21, 28 or 35. Approximately 65% of cercariae which penetrated the skin failed to be recovered from naive mice by any of the assays and it appeared that these schistosomes had already died in the skin in the first 24 h. No further significant loss of the infection was detected in naive mice. In chronically infected mice a further attrition of the challenge infection was demonstrated in two distinct phases. An ‘early phase’ occurred within the first 3 days of exposure and accounted for the death of 30% of the remaining parasites. A ‘late phase’ occurred between days 6 and 14 and accounted for an additional 43% of deaths. Thus, the two phases of attrition accounted for a loss of approximately 73% of the infection that would have survived in naive mice. The late phase of attrition could be demonstrated before the primary infection had matured, in contrast to the early phase of attrition which was seen only after egg laying had commenced. We believe that the early phase of attrition takes place in the skin and the late phase occurs after the schistosomes have left the lungs, either en route for the liver or as soon as they arrive in that organ. The results suggest that there are two distinct mechanisms of immunity against re-infection with S. mansoni in mice.


Parasitology ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Georgi ◽  
S. E. Wade ◽  
D. A. Dean

SUMMARYThe total number and distribution of schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium in all tissues and organs of mice from infection to 14–27 days was determined by compressed tissue autoradiography. Attrition of schistosomula, manifested as a decrease in the number of autoradiographic foci, was observed in organs other than the liver. Attrition commenced about 2 days after cercariae entered the skin, and conformed to a single exponential function with a rate constant (± standard error) of 7·0±0·5%/day for S. mansoni and 3·2±0·7%/day for S. haematobium. The temporal distribution of schistosomula of S. mansoni and S. haematobium differed quantitatively. In the case of S. mansoni, concomittant with a decrease in skin counts, the lung curve rose rapidly to a peak centred on day 6 and thereafter decreased more or less parallel to the total body curve. Significant accumulation in the liver was not observed until day 7, whereupon liver counts rose steadily to a plateau that extended from about day 14 to the end of the experiment and approximated the number of adult worms recovered from the hepatic portal vessels on day 42. A maximum of 26% and mean of 12% of all foci in the body were counted on autoradiograms of tissues other than the skin, lung and liver. The pelt averaged 14% of the body weight yet schistosomula were detected only in the area initially exposed to cercariae. The eviscerated carcass averaged 54% of the body weight yet contained only 0·8% −3·4 % of the schistosomula during the period of accumulation in the liver. Between day 6 and day 14, the ratio of schistosomula in the pulmonary circulation to schistosomula in the systemic circulation did not remain constant, as would be the case if schistosomula circulated passively and randomly, but instead displayed a statistically significant decrease from 0·92 and 0·85. For these reasons, it was considered unlikely that schistosomula had circulated randomly and repeatedly through the pulmonary and systemic circulations and entered the hepatic portal system by chance, as hypothesized by Miller & Wilson (1980). Instead it was considered more probable that schistosomula migrating from lungs to liver had followed a directed path through intervening vessels (Kruger, Heitman, van Wyk & McCully, 1969) or tissues (Wilks, 1967). Schistosoma haematobium distribution patterns differed from those of S. mansoni in slower movement of schistosomula from skin, their peak accumulation in lungs at about day 8 followed by a low rate of decrease, and a very low liver plateau which approximated the number of adult worms recovered from the hepatic portal vessels on day 42.


Parasitology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Wilson ◽  
J. Ruth Lawson

SummaryA living hamster cheek pouch preparation has been used to study the skin phase of schistosomulum migration. Between 0 and 16 h post-exposure schistosomula become increasingly difficult to see and lateral movement in the skin ceases. Up to 50 h post-exposure they remain poorly visible. They lie in fluid-filled lacunae within the epidermis, external to the basement membrane. The first schistosomula enter the dermis from. 40 h post-exposure, approximately half having done so by 52·5 h. Coincidentally, they can be more easily distinguished from surrounding tissue. Up to 91% of original penetrants have been observed alive in. pouch tissue at 65 h post-exposure. Since only 26% eventually mature in the hepatic portal system there would appear to be considerable attrition subsequent to the skin phase of migration. The mean diameter of venules penetrated was 22·7 μm and the mean time taken to penetrate was 8·01 h. The majority of schistosomula left the pouch between 60 and 80 h post-exposure.


1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Dawson ◽  
Carol E. H. Scott-Conner ◽  
Manuel E. Molina

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document