[Role of nitric oxide in the development of cardiac lesions during the acute phase of experimental infection by Trypanosoma cruzi].
Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and the heart is the organ most affected. Nitric oxide has notable anti-Trypanosoma action, but with little evidence regarding its role in the mechanism for tissue injury. The objective of this study was to analyze the contribution of nitric oxide towards the development of inflammation and cardiac fibrosis during the acute phase of experimental infection by Y and Colombian strains of Trypanosoma cruzi. The inflammation was significantly more intense in animals infected with the Colombian strain, compared with those infected with the Y strain, both in C57BL/6 animals (3.98 vs 1.87%; p = 0.004) and in C57BL/6 animals deficient in inducible nitric oxide synthase (3.99 vs 2.4%; p = 0.013). The cardiac parasite load in inducible nitric oxide synthase-deficient C57BL/6 animals infected with the Colombian strain was significantly greater than in those infected with the Y strain (2.78 vs. 0.17 nests/mm(2); p = 0.004), and also significantly greater than in the C57BL/6 infected with both the Colombian strain (2.78 vs 1.33 nests/mm(2); p = 0.006) and Y strains (2.78 vs 0.53 nests/mm(2); p = 0.005). The data confirm that nitric oxide has a role in parasite load control and suggest that it has a role in tissue protection, through controlling inflammation and potentially reducing cardiac lesions during the acute phase of Chagas disease.
Borges
Cláudia Renata Bibiano
CR
Laboratório de Imunologia, Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG.
Rodrigues Junior
Virmondes
V
dos Reis
Marlene Antônia
MA
Castellano
Lúcio Roberto
LR
Chica
Javier Emilio Lazo
JE
Pereira
Sanívia Aparecida de Lima
SA
Santos
Edjane Souza
ES
Rodrigues
Denise Bertulucci Rocha
DB
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D005355:Fibrosis; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II / Q000172:deficiency; D013045:Species Specificity; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000472:pathogenicity*
D009569:Nitric Oxide; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II