Neurological and behavioral abnormalities, ventricular dilatation, altered cellular functions, inflammation, and neuronal injury in brains of mice due to common, persistent, parasitic infection

Table 1 Neurologic and behavioral findings in SPF SW female mice infected at 7 months of age and tested at 12 months of age

APPEARANCE									LOCOMOTION		ANS	OPEN FIELD ACTIVITY
Condition	Grooming	Body Position	Piloerection	Tail Damage	Tremor	Palpebral Closure	Lacrimation	Weight (gm)	Spatial Locomotion	Gait	Urination/Defecation	Sniffs	Rears	Center	Freezing	Latency to move (sec)
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	39.4	Active	-	-	2	20	4	0	4
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	52.3	Active	-	-	4	4	2	0	22
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	45.0	Active	-	-	6	13	3	0	41
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	50.5	Active	-	-	1	0	7	0	120
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	50.6	Active	-	-	4	9	7	0	10
Control	Good	-	-	-	-	-	-	58.5	Active	-	-	1	2	9	0	1
Infected	Poor	+	+	+	+	-	-	43.8	Slow	+	+	nd	nd	nd	nd	nd
Infected	Good	+	+	+	-	-	-	41.2	Active	+	+	0	0	0	0	180
Infected	Very Poor	+	-	+	+	-	-	42.0	None	+	+	0	0	0	0	180
Infected	Very Poor	+	+	-	+	+	+	35.3	None	+	+	nd	nd	nd	nd	nd
Infected	Good	-	+	+	-	-	-	34.9	Active	-	+	0	0	0	0	180
Infected	Very Poor	+	+	-	+	+	+	34.8	Slow	+	+	0	0	0	0	180
Infected	Poor	+	+	+	+	+	+	35.6	Slow	+	+	1	3	1	1	24
Infected	Sub-normal	+	+	-	+	+	+	36.2	Active	-	+	0	2	10	1	6
Infected	Very Poor	+	+	+	-	-	+	58.0	None	-	+	0	0	0	0	180
Infected	Poor	+	+	+	+	-	-	54.2	Slow	-	+	2	0	1	2	56
P-values	0.018	0.001	0.001	0.011	0.011	0.23	0.093	0.059	0.035	0.034	< 0.001	0.0055	0.016	0.017	0.11	0.021

+ = abnormal, - = normal, nd = not done. Figure 1 shows representative examples of abnormal grooming, body position, piloerection, and tail damage (Figure 1 B, C) in infected mice when compared with control shown in Figure 1A.

ISSN: 1742-2094