TABLE. Number and size of granulomas and hepatic fibrosis developed in mice infected with 80 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae born from infected mothers (BIM), suckled by infected mothers (SIM), and born and suckled by schistosomotic mothers (BSIM).
| Groupsa | Kato-Katz (epg)b | Worm recoveryc | Number of hepatic granulomasd | Granuloma sizee (MT) | Collagenf (MT) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| (H&E) | (MT) | |||||
| Control | 509.1 ± 359.1 | 15.00 ± 1.83 | 2.89 ± 1.22 | 3.13 ± 1.95 | 23237 ± 7934 | 78.67 ± 6.64 |
| BIM | 408.0 ± 159.2 | 10.14 ± 2.27 | 4.63 ± 1.38g | 5.73 ± 2.25g | 21451 ± 9454 | 87.46 ± 10.46g |
| SIM | 332.6 ± 202.7 | 12.67 ± 3.20 | 3.11 ± 1.07 | 3.84 ± 2.21 | 18407 ± 6674g | 79.33 ± 7.98 |
| BSIM | 142.3 ± 103.7g | 6.88 ± 3.44g | 3.74 ± 1.45 | 4.16 ± 2.10 | 20467 ± 8577g | 83.91 ± 9.01 |
a: Swiss Webster mice infected with 80 S. mansoni cercariae, BIM, SIM, or BSIM from S. mansoni infected mothers immunised subcutaneously with ovalbumin (100 μg/animal) in complete Freund`s adjuvant 60 days post-infection had their liver subjected to morphometric study nine days after immunisation. Born and suckled mice from uninfected mothers (control) were also analysed under the same conditions [haematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichrome (MT) stains];b: median ± standard error (SE) of number of the eggs per gram (epg) faeces. Analysis was conducted 49 days post-infection; c: median ± SE of parasite burden. Analysis was conducted 69 days post-infection; d: median ± SE of number of hepatic granulomas per field;e: median ± SE of size (sectional area) of hepatic granulomas in µm2. Analysis of 20 granulomas per animal (n = 5) totalling 100 granulomas/group; f: median ± SE of proportion of collagen obtained from the ImageJ® software; g: p < 0.05 compared with the control group.