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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Clinical Follow-Up in the Rat Experimental Model of African-Trypanosomiasis

A. Darsaud^*,,1, L. Bourdon^*, C. Chevrier^*, M. Keita^,, B. Bouteille, A. Queyroy^*, F. Canini^*, R. Cespuglio, M. Dumas and A. Buguet^*,¶

^* Centre de recherches du Service de santé des armées, département des facteurs humains, La Tronche cedex, France;
Institut d’épidémiologie neurologique et de neurologie tropicale, Limoges cedex, France;
Laboratoire de neurologie, Faculty of Medicine, Limoges cedex, France;
INSERM U480 unit, University of Lyon I, Lyon cedex, France; and
^¶ Institut de médecine tropicale du Service de santé des armées – Le Pharo, Marseille Armées, France

Animal models of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) have been developed to understand the pathogenic mechanisms leading to the passage into the neurological phase, most of them referring to histological aspects but not clinical or behavioral data. Our study aimed at defining simple clinical and/or behavioral markers of the passage between the hemolymphatic phase and the meningo-encephalitic stage of the disease. Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 24) were infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei AnTat 1.1E. Food intake and body weight were measured daily from the day of infection until death. Hematocrit was measured twice a week. Behavioral disturbances were evaluated through an Open-field test. A sudden weight loss occurred on the twelfth day after infection, due to a significant drop of food intake starting two days before. The rats developed an anemic state shown by the hematocrit measurements. The Open-field test showed them to be less active and reactive as soon as the second week after infestation. A complementary histological study observed trypanosomes and inflammatory cells in the choroid plexus at the same period. These results are in favor of central nervous system functional disturbances. The observed weight loss is discussed as being a parameter of the entry in the meningo-encephalitic phase. The rat model reproduces neurological symptoms observed in the human disease and may prove to be useful for further neurohistological and therapeutic studies.

Key Words: experimental African trypanosomiasis • rat model • food consumption • body weight • open field

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