Neurotoxocariasis is a parasitic zoonosis resulting from the intrusion of the larvae of dog
roundworm Toxocara canis into the central nervous system (CNS), leading to severe CNS insults,
and provoking different neurological manifestations ranging from headache to convulsions
and paresis. This work assessed the probable occurrence of neuroinflammatory and neuro-degenerative
alterations in the brain tissues of T. canis infected mice and evaluated the changes in
brain parasite loads over the course of infection. The total larval loads in the brain, histopathological,
immunohistochemical (MMP-3 & MMP-9) examination as well as determination of NFcell
infiltration around larvae in brain tissues of mice, expressions of all the investigated markers
of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration showed an ascending pattern throughout the
course of the infection and were directly proportional to the increase in the brain larval loads.