Angiostrongilíase abdominal: estudo em camundongos tratados com altas doses de enoxaparina

Abstract

Abdominal angiostrongyliasis (AA) is a zoonotic infection caused by the Angiostrongyluscostaricensis parasite, which resides in the mesenteric arteries. Surgery is the only effective treatment for AA, and since one of the main complications of the disease is intestinal infarction caused by thrombi formation, the use of anticoagulants could be a treatment option. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of high doses of enoxaparin anticoagulant on preventing intestinal ischemic lesions, and consequently, on the survival of mice infected experimentally with A. costaricensis. The experimental design was conducted as follows: the mice were divided into 2 groups of 12 animals; Group 1 - control treated with placebo, and Group 2 - treated with 2.5 mg/kg of enoxaparin. On the first day of the experiment, mice (n=24) were infected by oral administration (gavage) of 10 L3 larvae of A. costaricensis. After infection, they were maintained in appropriate cages and monitored daily. From the 15 th day of infection, the animals of group 1 received daily doses of injected water (placebo), concomitantly the animals of group 2 received daily doses of enoxaparin (2.5 mg/kg) administered subcutaneously. Both groups received 1.6 mg/ml of paracetamol daily for pain relief. The experimental period lasted 50 days, and the animals were sacrificed in the last day through inhalation anesthesia with isoflurane so necropsy could be performed. The statistical analysis was performed by chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. The results from macro- and microscopic assessments showed no variation in the occurrence of lesions between the groups. An analysis was also performed among survivors and non-survivors, which showed that animals that died often presented lesions such as serous granulation, intestinal infarction and adhesion. Mortality rate did not vary between the group treated with enoxaparin and the control group. Thus, we showed that high doses of enoxaparin have no effect on AA, because the survival rates and lesions of mice did not vary between the treated group and the control group.