Naslov
Dexamethasone as a modulator of jejunal goblet cells hyperplasia during Trichinella spiralis gut infection of mice

Autori
Božić, Frane ; Jašarević, Adem ; Marinculić, Albert ; Duraković, Emir ; Kozarić, Zvonimir

Izvornik
Helminthologia (0440-6605) 37 (2000), 1; 3-8

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Trichinella spiralis; goblet cells; gut; dexamethasone

Sažetak
The potentiation of parasitic infections is a recognized adverse effect of glucocorticoids after their prolonged administration. In the present study, however, the potential effects of a single small dose of glucocorticoids, dexamethasone (DEX), on suppression of the jejunal goblet cells (GC) hyperplasia, in relation to the establishment and persistence of a primary helminth infection, was investigated using the Trichinella spiralis/mouse model. One day prior to the infection with T. spiralis, C57BL mice were treated with DEX at dose 0.1 mg/kg and necropsied for GC enumeration at 3, 4, 5 and 7 days post-infection (p.i.) and for adult worms counts from the small intestines at 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14 and 21 days p.i., respectively. In addition, larval worm counts from the musculature were performed at day 35 p.i. DEX-unpretreated T. spiralis-infected mice served as control. The control mice were necropsied on the same days as the tested group mice. DEX-pretreatment of mice infected with T. spiralis was found to transiently abolishes periodic-acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive GC hyperplasia normally observed following T. spiralis-infection. By contrast, DEX caused elevation of Alcian blue (ALB)-positive GC number during the T. spiralis-infection of C57BL mice. These findings were confirmed by a second DEX injection on day 5 p.i. Moreover, DEX-pretreatment significantly delayed adult parasite elimination from the small intestine and the mice injected with DEX harboured significantly more larval worms in the musculature than the uninjected hosts. These results suggest that DEX, administered shortly before or early after experimental infection of mice with T. spiralis, could potentiate susceptibility of host to trichinellosis, in part, in association with the suppression of PAS-positive GC hyperplasia. This also indicates that acute administration of DEX, even at the lowest dose, may induce long-lasting consequences detrimental to the infected host.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

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