Avaliação radiográfica articular em camundongos infectados por chikungunya vírus

Abstract

Chikungunya virus is an alphavirus able to infect females of the Aedes aegypy species and to be transmitted to humans through the same mosquito. Infected patients with Chikungunya develop arthralgia, which may worsen and turn into a persistent condition for months, causing acute musculoskeletal pains. This disability may become permanent, preventing the patient from performing his or her professional activities, which results in a significant socioeconomic problem. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the pathogenic effects caused by these infectious agents in articulations, as well as develop a specific animal model for studies on arthralgia resulting from arboviruses. The objective of this study is to evaluate the radiographic articulation findings of mice infected with Chikungunya. This experiment used two groups of mice A129WT, with seven and twenty-three days of age. The mice were inoculated with the virus strains cultivated in laboratory via footpad, mimicking the vector mosquito's sting. During the experiment, the animals were evaluated regarding clinical and behavioral signs related to arthropathy. The animals’ euthanasia was performed five days after the infection of the animals in the acute phase and twenty-five days after the infection in the chronic phase, immediately after they had been radiographed. There was no difference between the radiographs of the animals infected and the ones of the animals in the control group; in other words, none of the animals showed radiographic signs suggesting articulation diseases.