Differences in hepatic fibrosis and granuloma size in several strains of mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum.

Mice of several strains were exposed to Schistosoma japonicum cercariae and killed 6, 7, 10, or 15 weeks later. Hepatic fibrosis was consistently most marked in ICR mice and least marked in C57BL/6, A and C57BL/Ks mice. Intermediate degrees of fibrosis were present in C3H, CBA and Nmri mice. The size of circumoval granulomas also varied greatly among mouse strains but the degree of hepatic fibrosis was unrelated to granuloma size, indicating that the mechanisms regulating granuloma size may not be relevant to other important parameters of pathology induced by schistosome infection. The degree of fibrosis in S. japonicum-infected ICR mice is similar to that measured in S. japonicum-infected rabbits but is less than that in S. mansoni-infected mice.