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Dexamethasone treatment improves morphological and hematological parameters in chronic experimental schistosomiasis

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Abstract

Schistosomiasis, a chronic disease with considerable social impact, is an important health problem in many countries. To investigate the possible use of immunomodulators as coadjuvants in the treatment of chronic Schistosoma mansoni infection, we evaluated the effect of dexamethasone on histological, hematological, and biochemical parameters that reflect disease severity and morbidity. Animals treated from the first day or after 35 days of infection, were analyzed. In both groups, dexamethasone: (1) induced a decrease in the number of granulomas in hepatic tissue without affecting the alanine aminotransferase profile, (2) reduced splenomegaly and hepatomegaly associated with disease, and (3) improved hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit values and reduced the percentage of reticulocytes, preventing the development of anemia that occurs in the chronic phase of infection. These data suggest that treatment with dexamethasone results in a mild course of murine schistosomiasis and point to this drug as a promising agent to complement S. mansoni specific treatment.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by FAPERJ, CNPq, FUJB, and FIOCRUZ. The authors are grateful to Dr. L. Correa for the Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. All experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the Guidelines for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (CAUAP) of the Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho, which conform to the National Institute of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA) guidelines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Cidade Universitária, CCS, UFRJ, 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Alexandre S. Pyrrho, Juliene Antonio Ramos, Roberto Moura-Neto, Fabio Christiane O. F. Cachem & Célia Santos da Silva

  2. Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Cidade Universitária, UFRJ, 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Alexandre S. Pyrrho & Cerli Rocha Gattass

  3. Departamento de Patologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, 21040-360, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Henrique Leonel Lenzi

  4. Departamento de Histologia e Embriologia – Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Cidade Universitária, UFRJ, 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Christina Maeda Takiya

Authors
  1. Alexandre S. Pyrrho
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  2. Henrique Leonel Lenzi
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  3. Juliene Antonio Ramos
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  4. Roberto Moura-Neto
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  5. Fabio Christiane O. F. Cachem
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  6. Célia Santos da Silva
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  7. Christina Maeda Takiya
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  8. Cerli Rocha Gattass
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Correspondence to Alexandre S. Pyrrho.

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Pyrrho, A.S., Lenzi, H.L., Ramos, J.A. et al. Dexamethasone treatment improves morphological and hematological parameters in chronic experimental schistosomiasis. Parasitol Res 92, 478–483 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1078-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1078-8

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