title: Role of vasoactive mediators in the pathogenesis of Chagas' disease.
abstract: This review focuses on the vascular pathogenesis of Chagas' disease, the cardiomyopathy caused by infection with the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi. Recent studies strongly suggests that T. cruzi infection is linked to functional changes in the activity of two potent vasoactive peptidergic mediators, endothelin-1, a vasoconstrictor, and kinins, a group of vasodilator and pro-inflammatory peptides related to bradykinin. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying disturbances of vascular homoeostasis? induced by T. cruzi may provide opportunities for therapeutic intervention and amelioration of heart pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Shankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Louis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scharfstein
authors.forename: Herbert B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Tanowitz
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007705:Kinins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D007705:Kinins