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Assemblages A and B of Giardia duodenalis reduce enteric glial cells in the small intestine in mice

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Abstract

Infection of Giardia duodenalis is one of the most common human parasitic disease worldwide. This infection may be related to important changes in the enteric nervous system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the myenteric and submucosal plexuses, the intestinal muscle layer, and gastrointestinal transit in mice infected with assemblages A and B of G. duodenalis. Swiss albino mice (Mus musculus) were infected with assemblages A and B of G. duodenalis for 15 days. Gastrointestinal transit time was evaluated before euthanasia. Duodenum and jejunum were removed for histological and immunohistochemical analyses. It was observed a reduction in the enteric glial cell count and a decrease in the ratio of enteric glial cells to neurons. The number of neurons did not change, but morphological changes were observed in the duodenum and jejunum in both plexuses, including an increase in the nuclear area and a reduction of cell bodies in the myenteric plexus and a decrease in the nuclear area in the submucosal plexus. A reduction of the thickness of the muscle layer was observed in the duodenum, with no significant differences in the gastrointestinal transit times. Assemblages A and B of G. duodenalis decrease the number of enteric glial cells in the myenteric and submucosal plexuses, decrease the thickness of the muscle layer, and change the morphology of neurons.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Programa de Pós Graduação em Biociências e Fisiopatologia, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, for incentivizing the development of this research and the Centro Universitário Integrado for providing the infrastructure to perform the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Universitário Integrado, Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brazil

    Mariana Felgueira Pavanelli

  2. Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

    Mariana Felgueira Pavanelli, Cristiane Maria Colli, Renata Coltro Bezagio, Gessilda de Alcântara Nogueira de Melo & Débora de Mello Gonçales Sant’Ana

  3. Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil

    Marcelo Biondaro Góis

  4. Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Eduardo José de Almeida Araújo

Authors
  1. Mariana Felgueira Pavanelli
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  2. Cristiane Maria Colli
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  3. Renata Coltro Bezagio
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  4. Marcelo Biondaro Góis
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  5. Gessilda de Alcântara Nogueira de Melo
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  6. Eduardo José de Almeida Araújo
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  7. Débora de Mello Gonçales Sant’Ana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mariana Felgueira Pavanelli.

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The study was conducted based on the guidelines of the Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência em Animais de Laboratório and was approved by the Comissão de Ética em Experimentação Animal of the Centro Universitário Integrado (Statement no. 1070).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Section Editor: Panagiotis Karanis

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Pavanelli, M.F., Colli, C.M., Bezagio, R.C. et al. Assemblages A and B of Giardia duodenalis reduce enteric glial cells in the small intestine in mice. Parasitol Res 117, 2025–2033 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5853-3

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