Avaliação do proteinograma sérico de cães com e sem sintomas neurológicos, naturalmente infectados por Leishmania chagasi Evaluation of serum proteinogram of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania chagasi with and without neurological symptoms

Visceral leishmaniasis is an antropozoonosis caused by a protozoan of the genus Leishmania. The infection in dogs usually cause a chronic systemic disease, that, clinically, is similar to human disease. In Brazil, Ministry of Health demands the euthanasia of infected animals and it doesn’t recommend the treatment of the same ones, however, in many countries those animals are treated, and the evaluation of the answer to the therapy bases on the titles of antibodies and in serum proteinogram. The present study aimed to determine the total protein concentration, and their electrophoretic fractions, correlating them to the presence of immunoglobulin in the serum of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis, with and without neurological symptoms. Two groups of animals were used: the first was composed of 18 dogs with visceral leishmaniasis without clinical evidence of neurological involvement, and the second, composed of 21 dogs with visceral leishmaniasis and neurological symptoms. The total serum protein was done through biuret method and soon afterwards took place the electrophoretic separation. Both groups presented intense gammaglobulinemia, hypoalbuminemia, and decrease in the alpha globulin fraction. The increase in the gamma globulin levels in the control group showed correlation with the higher positive results for the ELISA test of sera of those dogs: 88.9% of dogs in the control group, as compared to only 28% positive results in the group with neurological symptoms.