Impact of benznidazole on infection course in mice experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi I, II, and IV

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 2015-06, Vol.92 (6), p.1178-1189
• Main Authors: Gruendling, Ana Paula, Massago, Miyoko, Teston, Ana Paula M, Monteiro, Wuelton M, Kaneshima, Edilson N, Araújo, Silvana M, Gomes, Mônica L, Barbosa, Maria das Graças V, Toledo, Max Jean O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Chagas Disease - drug therapy; Chagas Disease - parasitology; Chagas Disease - pathology; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; Male; Mice; Nitroimidazoles - therapeutic use; Parasitemia - drug therapy; Parasitemia - parasitology; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Trypanocidal Agents - therapeutic use; Trypanosoma cruzi; Trypanosoma cruzi - drug effects; Trypanosoma cruzi - genetics
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0690

American trypanosomiasis is an emerging zoonosis in the Brazilian Amazon. Studies on benznidazole (BZ) chemotherapy with Trypanosoma cruzi from this region have great relevance, given the different discrete typing units (DTUs) that infect humans in the Amazon and other regions of Brazil. We performed a parasitological, histopathological, and molecular analysis of mice inoculated with strains of T. cruzi I, II, and IV that were BZ-treated during the acute phase of infection. Groups of Swiss mice were inoculated; 13 received oral BZ, whereas the other 13 comprised the untreated controls. Unlike parasitemia, the infectivity and mortality did not vary among the DTUs. Trypanosoma cruzi DNA was detected in all tissues analyzed and the proportion of organs parasitized varied with the parasite DTU. The BZ treatment reduced the most parasitological parameters, tissue parasitism and the inflammatory processes at all infection stages and for all DTUs. However, the number of significant reductions varied according to the DTU and infection phase.