HISTOPATHOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO EXPERIMENTAL ANCYLOSTOMIASIS IN HEALTHY AND DIABETIC MURINE MODELS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/abr.2026.28.01.18Keywords:
Ancylostoma caninum, diabetes mellitus, histopathology, parasitic infection, tissue pathology, Wistar ratsAbstract
Helminthic infections remain a significant global health concern, particularly in immunocompromised individuals where disease severity and tissue responses may be altered. Ancylostoma caninum infection, primarily a parasite of dogs, has widely been used as an experimental model to study host-parasite interactions due to its ability to induce systemic pathological changes. Moreover, metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus are known to modulate immune responses, potentially exacerbating infection outcomes. This study was aimed to elucidate the tissue-specific histopathological responses following experimental infection with A. caninum in both healthy and diabetic Wistar rats. A total of 108 rats were randomly allocated to six groups (n = 18 per group). Groups I and II served as healthy and diabetic controls, respectively. Experimental infection was performed using L3 larvae of A. caninum administered either orally (200 larvae rat-1) or percutaneously (1000 larvae rat-1) based on group designations. Histopathological assessments of lung, liver, skeletal muscle, and brain tissues were conducted on six randomly selected rats from each group on days 15, 30, and 45 post-infections. No significant lesions were observed in groups I, II, V, and VI. In contrast, group III and IV (orally infected healthy and diabetic rats, respectively) exhibited pronounced pathological changes, with severe manifestations in diabetic animals. These findings highlight the exacerbated tissue responses associated with hyperglycemia in helminthic infections and provide insights into the pathogenesis of ancylostomiasis in immunocompromised hosts.
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