Comparative studies of the infection of Lewis rats with four Trypanosoma cruzi clones.
Quantitative and qualitative differences in parasitaemia levels and histopathological characteristics occurred in Lewis rats infected with four Trypanosoma cruzi clones. Rats infected with clone Sylvio-X10/7 sustained high parasitaemias and died during the acute phase whereas rats infected with clones Sylvio-X10/4, Miranda/78 or Miranda/80 did not. Myocardial fibrosis was more extensive in rats chronically infected with clone X10/4 than in rats infected with the 2 Miranda clones. Myocardial fibrosis developed more rapidly in rats than has been reported in mice. These characteristics are advantageous in developing animal models of human chagasic myocardiopathy.
D000818:Animals; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000473:pathology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology*; D002999:Clone Cells; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics