The effects of environmental temperature and Hymenolepis nana on histopathology of the small intestine of mice

Abstract

Uninfected and infected (Hymenolepis nana, eggs by stomach tube) 4-month-old Swiss–Webster male mice were maintained at 5, 21, or 35 °C for 4 or 10 days. Histological examination of their small intestines revealed that exposure to 5 °C produced acute catarrhal enteritis in uninfected mice, but in infected mice this sympton was reduced to a few edematic foci located in the submucosa. The hot environment caused a marked reduction in intestinal gland and goblet cell activity in uninfected mice. This condition was reversed in infected mice as, regardless of temperature, the worms invariably induced pronounced glandular hyperplasia. Temperature did not affect the host's cellular reaction to the parasite as the influx of inflammatory cells at the sites of infection was equally intense in all groups of mice.