ABSTRACT
Schistosomiasis is caused by Schistosoma mansoni and is a public health problem in Brazil. The typical granulomatous lesion is associated with the increase in the oxidative damage by generation of free radicals. The aim of this work was to correlate some oxidative stress markers with the worm burden on carriers of schistosomiasis (n = 30) in the acute phase in comparison to healthy subjects (n = 30). The pro-oxidant parameter used was the colorimetric quantification of reactive substances to thiobarbituric acid, while the antioxidant markers used were blood content of reduced glutathione and determination of the activity of catalase. The worm burden was assessed by Kato-Katz method. The results pointed out that initially there was no difference in the catalase activity. However, there was a positive correlation between the increase in parasitic load and intensity of lipid peroxidation, and decrease in the content of reduced glutathione. Additionally, only the aspartate aminotransferase levels presented to be high, while there was a decrease in bilirubin level. Therefore, a possible association between the establishment of the oxidative stress in tissue and the parasitic load of Schistosoma mansoni is suggested.
