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CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT IN EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION WITH LEISHMANIA (LEISHMANIA) AMAZONENSIS

We describe the pathologic alterations of the central nervous system (CNS) observed in experimental tegumentary leishmaniasis in BALB/c and Swiss mice. The mice were subcutaneously infected with 10⁴ amastigotes of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. Animals were killed and brains were removed for histologic and immunocytochemical studies. Histologic examination showed that 66.6% of infected mice had a discrete hyperemia and inflammatory infiltrate in the meninges, composed of mononuclear cells and neutrophils with no detectable parasites. However, parasitized macrophages were detected in the cerebral parenchyma, as well as mast cells, lymphocytes, and polymorphonuclear cells. Necrosis in the cerebral parenchyma was also observed. Confocal fluorescence microscopy showed that CD8⁺ T lymphocytes are the major component of the inflammatory infiltrate in the CNS. In addition to these cells, CD4⁺, CD11b, and dendritic cells are present, in small numbers, in the inflammatory processes of the CNS. Thus, L. amazonensis is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause significant pathologic changes in the CNS.

Acknowledgments: We thank Arlindo Caldeira da Rocha and Lia Abreu de Souza for histologic preparations and Dr. Sônia Neumann Cupolilo for monoclonal antibody anti-DEC205.

Financial support: This work was supported by grants from Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Ministry of Health, Brazil.

Authors’ addresses: A. L. Abreu-Silva, Departamento de Patologia, Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, Maranhão, Brazil e Departamento de Protozoologia, Laboratorio de Imunomodulação, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/FIOCRUZ, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. K. S. Calabrese, and S. C. Gonçalves da Costa, Departamento de Protozoologia, Laboratorio de Imunomodulação, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil, 4365 Pav. Carlos Chagas, 3° Andar, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. CEP 21045-900, Telephone/Fax: 55-21-2560-6572, E-mail: anabreu{at}ioc.fiocruz.br. R. C. Tedesco, Departamento de Morfologia, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Sao Paulo, Brazil. R. A. Mortara, Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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