Central nervous system injuries in dogs with visceral leishmaniasis are due to the presence of the parasite?

• Grant number: 11/22271-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: April 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Mary Marcondes
• Grantee: Mary Marcondes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Gisele Fabrino Machado

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is a disease that has a great variability of clinical signs in dogs, among them the occurrence of neurological symptoms, even in the absence of other opportunistic agents. Although some authors have already identified the parasite amastigotes in the central nervous system of dogs with VL, it is unclear whether it directly participates in the development of neurological disorders. Thus, this study aims to search through Real Time PCR the presence of DNA of L. chagasi fragments in paraffin central nervous system (frontal cortex, piriform lobe, choroid plexus, lateral ventricle, midbrain, cerebellar peduncles and cerebellum) from two groups of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis. The first group will consist of 18 dogs with clinical evidence of neurological signs and the second group will consist of 18 animals without clinical evidence of neurological signs, totalizing 216 fragments to be evaluated. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CARDINOT, CINTHYA B.; SILVA, JOSE E. S.; YAMATOGI, RICARDO S.; NUNES, CARIS M.; BIONDO, ALEXANDER W.; VIEIRA, RAFAEL F. C.; ARAUJO JUNIOR, JOAO P.; MARCONDES, MARY. DETECTION OF EHRLICHIA CANIS, BABESIA VOGELI, AND TOXOPLASMA GONDII DNA IN THE BRAIN OF DOGS NATURALLY INFECTED WITH LEISHMANIA INFANTUM. Journal of Parasitology, v. 102, n. 2, p. 275-279, APR 2016. (11/22271-0)