title: Trypanosoma cruzi: The effects of zinc supplementation in the immune response during the course of experimental disease.
abstract: Zinc is an essential nutritional component required for normal development and maintenance of immune functions. The possible effects of zinc in upregulating the host immune response during the acute and chronic phases of experimental Chagas' disease were evaluated. In young, infected and Zn-supplemented animals, higher concentrations of IFN-gamma and NO were observed. During the chronic phase, decreased concentrations of NO and IFN-gamma were found for older infected animals that received Zn supplementation. For young animals, hearts from Zn-supplemented groups displayed reduced inflammatory infiltrate, heart weight and number of amastigote burdens. For older, infected and Zn-supplemented animals amastigote nests were absent with reduced inflammatory cell infiltrate. This study identifies a potentially novel therapeutic approach that could control the parasite load during acute phase of disease, consequently preventing the deleterious, parasite-elicited responses observed during chronic phase.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Parasitologia, Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto FCFRP-USP, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. vbrazao@fcfrp.usp.br
authors.forename: Vânia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brazão
authors.forename: Leony Cristina
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Caetano
authors.forename: Marina Del Vecchio
authors.initials: Mdel V
authors.lastname: Filipin
authors.forename: Fabricia Helena
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Santello
authors.forename: Míriam Paula Alonso
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Toldo
authors.forename: José Clóvis
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: do Prado
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006321:Heart / Q000469:parasitology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D019287:Zinc Sulfate / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019287:Zinc Sulfate; D007371:Interferon-gamma