Fig 1.
Frequency of Leishmania positivity in the central nervous system and spleen of naturally infected dogs detected by histopathology (HP), immunohistochemistry (IHC), in situ hybridization (ISH), parasitological culture (PC), DPP® assay, and qualitative real-time PCR (qPCR).
* 44 samples were investigated by qPCR; ** 36 samples were investigated by qPCR and DPP® assay. CSF = cerebrospinal fluid.
Fig 2.
Leishmania infantum parasite load expressed as the natural logarithm of the number of parasite genome equivalents (gEq)/ng in the brain, spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid and spleen of naturally infected dogs.
The horizontal black lines indicate the median parasite load. The vertical dotted lines indicate the interquartile range. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the lower limit of positivity (threshold). The blue dots represent the parasite load of each dog. The empty dots are the outliers of parasite load defined by the boxplot. CSF = cerebrospinal fluid.
Fig 3.
Leishmania infantum parasite load expressed as the natural logarithm of the number of parasite genome equivalents (gEq)/ng in the central nervous system (CNS) and spleen of naturally infected dogs according to a positive or negative L. infantum result in the CNS by the parasitological techniques (culture and histological techniques).
The horizontal black lines indicate the median parasite load. The vertical dotted lines indicate the interquartile range. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the lower limit of positivity (threshold). The blue dots represent the parasite load of each dog. The empty dots are the outliers of parasite load defined by the boxplot. CSF = cerebrospinal fluid. CNS = central nervous system.
Fig 4.
Histological findings in the central nervous system of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum.
V = vascular lumen. (A-C) Brainstem. (A) Suppurative meningitis consisting of lymphocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils. HE. (B) Perivascular cuffing consisting of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and macrophages in the grey matter. HE. (C) Brown-stained amastigote forms of Leishmania (arrows) in the perivascular space of grey matter. IHC. (D-F) White matter of the cervical spinal cord. (D) Several amastigote forms of Leishmania in the cytoplasm of macrophages (arrowhead) and a granulomatous inflammatory infiltrate consisting of lymphocytes, macrophages and plasma cell in the perivascular space. HE. (E) Brown-stained amastigote forms of Leishmania (arrows) in the perivascular space. IHC. (F) Blue-stained amastigote forms of Leishmania infantum (arrows) in the perivascular space. ISH.
Fig 5.
Leishmania infantum parasite load expressed as the natural logarithm of the number of parasite genome equivalents (gEq)/ng in the brain and spinal cord of naturally infected dogs with and without histological alterations in the central nervous system.
The horizontal black lines indicate the median parasite load. The vertical dotted lines indicate the interquartile range. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the lower limit of positivity (threshold). The blue dots represent the parasite load of each dog. The empty dots are the outliers of parasite load defined by the boxplot.
Table 1.
Intensity of inflammatory cells/mm2 in different CNS tissues of 14 dogs with inflammatory alterations in the CNS and naturally infected with L. infantum according to serum positivity for anti-E. canis and anti-T. gondii antibodies.
Fig 6.
Leishmania infantum parasite load expressed as the natural logarithm of the number of parasite genome equivalents (gEq)/ng in the brain and spinal cord of 14 dogs with inflammatory alterations in the CNS according to serum positivity for anti-E. canis and anti-T. gondii antibodies.
The vertical black lines indicate the median parasite load. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the interquartile range. The blue dots represent the parasite load of each dog.