Real-Time PCR analysis in the brain of naturally infected dogs by Leishmania chagasi

• Grant number: 12/21129-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Fabrino Machado
• Grantee: Fernanda Grecco Grano
• Supervisor: Luis Carlos Gómez Nieto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres (UEx), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/03504-4 - Evaluation of T lymphocyte subsets in blood and cerebrospinal fluid in dogs with visceral leishmaniasis: correlation with brain lesions, BP.MS

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is an anthropozoonosis caused by Leishmania chagasi (= L. infantum). In dogs, main domestic reservoir, it is characterized by a chronic systemic disease, primarily of lymphoid organs. Clinical manifestations range from the observation of infected and asymptomatic dogs to observation of generalized disorders that may result in death of the host. The peripheral infection by L. chagasi causes changes in the central nervous system, characterized particularly by leptomeningitis and choroiditis. Chronically infected dogs may exhibit neurological deficit; however there are few reports that characterize the lesions observed and elucidate the pathogenesis of the nervous form of the leishmaniasis. In previous projects was possible to verify the presence of inflammatory infiltrates in the brain of dogs with leishmaniasis, mainly composed of CD3+ T lymphocytes and also an increase in the intensity of marking of GFAP+ astrocytes and microglia with RCA-1. The objective of this study is to determine whether the parasite Leishmania chagasi is present in the brain of infected dogs, in order to clarify the various discussions in the literature related to the presence or not of the parasite in the CNS, what may explain the cause of the inflammatory activity observed previously and neurological clinical signs. Thus, it is proposed to investigate the presence of the parasite in five regions of the brain and quantify the parasites in dogs with leishmaniasis, clarifying the pathophysiology of the neurological disease. (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)

GRANO, FERNANDA G.; MELO, GUILHERME D.; BELINCHON-LORENZO, SILVIA; GOMEZ-NIETO, LUIS C.; MACHADO, GISELE F.. First detection of Leishmania infantum DNA within the brain of naturally infected dogs. Veterinary Parasitology, v. 204, n. 3-4, p. 376-380, AUG 29 2014. (11/03504-4, 12/10415-0, 12/21129-9)