title: Chagas' disease: decreased resistance to Trypanosoma cruzi acquired infection in offspring of infected mice.
abstract: The course of Trypanosoma cruzi infection was studied in an experimental model, using the offspring of mice that were chronically infected with T. cruzi. When infected two months after birth, a higher mortality rate in heavily parasitized mice occurred in these offspring than in controls born to uninfected mothers. The harmful maternal influence reached a maximum when offspring were exposed both to prenatal (placental) and postnatal (lactating) influences. It was a reversible phenomenon that led to a T. cruzi-specific failure of the offspring to control the acute phase of the infection. Such features are suggestive of a maternally-induced impairment of the immune response of the offspring.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Faculte de Medecine, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Carlier
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Truyens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ontivero
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flament
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Marck
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: de Maertelaer
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes; D007774:Lactation; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011247:Pregnancy; D012737:Sex Factors; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000276:immunology*