Removal of the submaxillary salivary glands and infection with the trematode Schistosoma mansoni alters exploratory behavior and pain thresholds in female mice.

In this study, CD-1 female mice, deprived of the submaxillary salivary glands, were infected with S. mansoni and their behavior was observed 15 weeks after infection, when the eggs of the parasite are present in the brain. Sialectomized infected mice showed changes in exploratory activity, sniffing, and wall-rearing in the open-field and in the black/white box, but no differences in pain sensitivity were observed on the hot plate. The present results suggest that the modifications in the behavior of sialectomized infected mice might be associated with the inability of the animals to cope with the aversive effects of the infection and, most probably, with modifications in the levels of polypeptides released into the bloodstream by the salivary glands, affecting the NGF-responsive cells of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems.