Hepatic regeneration after partial hepatectomy in mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni, at the acute and chronic phases of the disease

Outbred male albino mice normal or infected with 30 cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni (LE strain) were submitted to 65 percent hepatectomy during the acute (70 days) and chronic phase (160 days) phases of the disease. A group of the infected animals was treated with 400 mg/kg of oxamniquine during the acute phase before hepatectomy. Non-infected, infected and treated but not hepatectomized animals were kept as controls. Hepatic regeneration was evaluated by incorporation of tritiated thymidine, intraperitoneally injected into non-hepatectomized and hepatectomized animals, 24 hours after surgery. The results showed that removal of 65 percent of the hepatic parenchyma, during the acute phase, led to a statistically significant increase of thymidine incorporation, when compared with the uninfected hepatectomized controls. This phenomenon was not observed at the chronic phase. Treatment with oxamniquine administered during the acute phase led to a decrease in thymidine incorporation rate 160 days after infection (90 days after treatment) and 24 hours after hepatectomy. The data suggest that infection with S. mansoni represents a considerable stimulus for the regenerative capacity of the liver during the acute, but not the chronic phase of disease

Antral gastrin cell population in patients with chagasic megaesophagus and megacolon

1. Patients with chronic Chagas' disease have abnormally low gastric acid secretion and increased gastrin release both during fasting and after different stimuli. Regardless of the relationship between intragastric acidity and gastrin secretion, it is uncertain whether hypergastrinemia in Chagas' disease is caused by an increased population of antral gastrin (G) cells (hyperplasia) or by enhanced cell activity (hyperfunction). 2. We therefore estimated G cell number in antral biopsies from 16 chagasic patients and 13 control subjects using a peroxidase-anti-peroxidase immunohistochemical technique. All subjects underwent a gastric secretion test to determine peak acid output following intravenous pentagastrin instillation. 3. Antral G cell number in Chagas' disease patients was not significantly different from that observed in the control group (number of cells/mm2, median and (range): 128 (44-284) vs 138 (65-285)). 4. In chagasic patients, peak acid output was significantly lower than in controls (mmol/h, median and (range): 9.819 (3.024-21.564) vs 17.490 (9.423-25.848)). 5. These results suggest that the increase in gastrin release associated with reduced gastric acid secretion in Chagas' disease is mediated by antral G cell hyperfunction rather than by hyperplasia

Effect of scorpion toxin on the enterochromaffin-like cells in normal and trypanosoma cruzi-infected rats: a morphological study

A injeçäo intravenosa de toxina escorpiônica ( Tityus serrulatus) en ratos normais e infectados pelo Trypanosoma cruzi näo causou alteraçöes morfológicas ultra-estruturais das células enterocromafins-like (ECL) do estômago, embora tenha induzido a aumento significativo da secreçäo do suco gástrico

Gastric acetylcholine and histamine content of normal and Trypanosoma cruzi - infected rats

The consequences of acute Trypanosoma cruzi infection for acetylcholine and histamine levels in gastric wall and for mast cells of the stomach were studied in rats. Intraperitoneal infection with 4,000 trypomastigotes/g of a Y strain of Trypanosoma cruzi led to a 4-fold decrease in gastric acetylcholine level and to a 57 - and 15-fold increase in histamine content in the membranous and glandular regions of the rat stomach, respectively. Infection of rats with Trypanosoma cruzi also induced a 2- and 4-fold increase in mast cell numbers in the membranous and glandular regions of the muscle layer of the gastric wall, respectively, and a ganglionic inflammatory reaction with predominance of mononuclear cells. We conclude that in acutely Trypanosoma cruzi-infected rats, the reduction of acetylcholine content is due to gastric denervation and that the histamine increase might be secondary to gastric denervation and/or to an increase in the number of mast cells of the gastric wall

Distribuicao do colageno I e III na cirrose hepatica pelo metodo picrosirius polarizacao. / Distribution of types I and III collagens in hepatic cirrhosis by picrosirius polarization method

Os autores analisam a distribuicao das fibrilas colagenas de tipo I e III em fragmentos de figado obtido de 18 individuos autopsiados e portadores de cirrose alcoolica. Usando a tecnica de coloracao pelo Sirius Supra Red F3B200, preconizada por Junqueira e colaboradores, foi possivel identificar um aumento consideravel do colageno I e III nos conjuntivos extra e introlobular, com nitido predominio do primeiro nos espacoes portais e do ultimo dentro dos lobulos anatomicos encarcerados Como controle foram usados cortes histologicos de figado de 18 individuos autopsiados e sem doenca hepatica

Alteracoes macro e microscopicas dos rins de caes apos ligadura juxta-hilar da veia renal esquerda. / Macro and microscopic changes of kidneys of dogs after the juxta hilium ligation of the left renal vein

A ligadura da veia renal esquerda vem sendo assunto controvertido na literatura mundial. O estudo anatomo-patologico dos rins atingidos pela ligadura experimental foi o parametro utilizado pelos autores para maiores informacoes sobre o assunto.Foram utilizados doze caes para serem submetidos a ligadura justa-hilar da veia renal esquerda. Decorridos vinte e um dias, os caes foram submetidos a nefrectomia bilateral. As principais alteracoes macroscopicas foram diminuicao de peso e do volume, vascularizacao subcapsular bem desenvolvida e palidez difusa, especialmente cortical. A microscopia foram observados espessamento mesangial e consequente cilindruria, necrose papilar e fibrose intersticial, demosntrando um grave acometimento do rim cuja veia foi ligada. Analisando o material, conclui-se que as veias gonadal e supra-renal sao importantes vias de drenagem colateral para a preservacao da funcao renal

Malformacao adenomatoide cistica congenita do pulmao. Relato de um caso. / Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation of the lung.A case report

Um caso de malformacao adenomatoide cistica pulmonar congenita, com expressivas manifestacoes clinicas nas primeiras horas de vida extra-uterina e relatado.Realizou-se o estudo clinicopatologico do caso, discutindo-se aspectos da etiopatogenia, conduta terapeutica e prognostico desta rara doenca pulmonar baseando-se em breve revisao da literatura

Linfadenite no decurso da hanseniase: um importante diagnostico diferencial entre as linfanomegalias. / Lymphadenitis in the course of hanseniasis: an important differential diagnosis in lymphadenopathies

A linfadenomega;oa no decurso da hanseniase e bastante comum em nosso meio, sobretudo na forma Virchowiana. Paradoxalmente, o diagnostico de linfadenite hanseniana quase nunca e feito e sao escassas as referencias sobre este tipo de manisfestacao da hanseniase. Alguns trabalhos recentes enfatizam a importancia da analise morfologica de linfonodos no sentido de se avaliarem as condicoes imunitarias dos pacientes e, de certa maneira, prever-se a evolucao natural da doenca. A importancia dos linfonodos como reservatorios biologicos de bacilos deve tambem ser considerada. Relatamos 16 casos de linfadenite hanseniana cuja manifestacao clinica inicial foi de linfadenomegalia, clinicamente expressiva, classificada como maligna (linfoma, metastase). Os aspectos histologicos e fisiopatogeneticos da linfadenite, bem como sua importancia no diagnostico diferencial clinico-patologico sao enfantizados