Abstract
BackgroundChagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is characterized by cardiac, gastrointestinal, and nervous system disorders. Although much about the pathophysiological process of Chagas disease is already known, the influence of the parasite burden on the inflammatory process and disease progression remains uncertain.MethodsWe used an acute experimental disease model to evaluate the effect of T. cruzi on intestinal lesions and assessed correlations between parasite load and inflammation and intestinal injury at 7 and 14 days post-infection. Low (3 × 102), medium (3 × 103), and high (3 × 104) parasite loads were generated by infecting C57BL/6 mice with “Y”-strain trypomastigotes. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance with Tukey’s multiple comparison post-test, Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison, χ2 test and Spearman correlation.ResultsHigh parasite load-bearing mice more rapidly and strongly developed parasitemia. Increased colon width, inflammatory infiltration, myositis, periganglionitis, ganglionitis, pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α, INF-γ, IL-2, IL-17, IL-6), and intestinal amastigote nests were more pronounced in high parasite load-bearing animals. These results were remarkable because a positive correlation was observed between parasite load, inflammatory infiltrate, amastigote nests, and investigated cytokines.ConclusionsThese experimental data support the idea that the parasite load considerably influences the T. cruzi-induced intestinal inflammatory response and contributes to the development of the digestive form of the disease.
Highlights
Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is characterized by cardiac, gastrointestinal, and nervous system disorders
Our group experimentally demonstrated that cardiac an renal manifestations of Chagas disease (CD) were associated with the parasite burden and the inflammation resulting from infection [15,16], and these findings suggest that changes in other organs such as the intestine might be affected by the same parameters
This report has revealed that the gastrointestinal tract is damaged during the first days of an experimental acute T. cruzi infection and that this damage is more pronounced in mice that have been infected with high parasite loads
Summary
Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is characterized by cardiac, gastrointestinal, and nervous system disorders. Chagas disease (CD) is an anthropozoonosis caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma (T.) cruzi [1,2]. In the digestive form of the disease, megaesophagus and megacolon have been described as the primary manifestations resulting from gastrointestinal tract lesions [9]. Inflammatory lesions in the enteric nervous system are associated with substantial reductions in the numbers of neurons. This neuronal loss is Vazquez et al Parasites & Vectors (2015) 8:206 thought to underlie the clinical findings observed with mega syndromes [11]
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