Morphometrical Study of the Mouse Liver in the Experimental Chagas' Disease / Estudio Morfometrico Del Higado de Raton en la Enfermedad de Chagas Experimental‪.‬

RAGONHA, L.H.O.; ABRAHAO, A.A.C.; SALA, M.A.; LOPES, R.A.; RIBEIRO, R.D.; PRADO JR., J.C.; ALBUQUERQUE, S. & ZUCOLOTO, S. Morphometrical study of the mouse liver in the experimental Chagas' disease.Int. J. Morphol., 24(3):383-390, 2006. SUMMARY: The objective of this work was to characterize histopatologically and morphometrically the alterations of the mouse liver during the acute infection by the MORC-2 strain of Trypanosoma cruzi. This strain showed marked tropism by the liver, with numerous nests of amastigotes in the examined sections. The liver of the infected animals was constituted by smaller cells, with granular cytoplasm. In some areas, the sinusoids were congested and the Kuppfer cells were hipertrofied and hiperplasic. The hepatic tissue showed circumscribed foci of inflammatory cells into necrotic areas, sinusoids, around the contrilobular veins and the portal spaces. The centrilobular vein was dilated and congested, with focal necrosis and rupture of the wall in some regions. The portal spaces were disorganized, sometimes with intense inflammatory infiltrate. In some areas it was possible to observe cystic degeneration (spongis hepatis). In the hepatic tissue, nests of amastigotes, of variable sizes, were observed, some surrounded by chronic inflammatory infiltrate. In the portal space, the relative volume of the biliary ducts and blood vessels, as well as the surface density of the arteries was greater in the infected group.