title: The role of selenium in intestinal motility and morphology in a murine model of Typanosoma cruzi infection.
abstract: Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi causes megasyndromes of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in humans and animals. In the present study, we employed magnetic resonance imaging to non-invasively monitor the effect of selenium supplementation on alterations in the GI tract of T. cruzi-infected mice. CD1 mice infected with T. cruzi (Brazil strain) exhibited dilatation of the intestines similar to that we recently reported in infected C57Bl/6 mice. The average intestine lumen diameter increased by 65% and the increase was reduced to 29% in mice supplemented with 2 ppm selenium in the drinking water. When supplemented with 3 ppm selenium in chow the lumen diameter was also significantly reduced although the difference between the infected and infected supplemented mice was smaller. Intestinal motility in infected mice fed with selenium-enriched chow was increased compared with infected mice fed with normal unsupplemented chow and was not significantly different from intestinal motility in uninfected mice. We suggest that Se may be used to modulate the inflammatory, immunological, and/or antioxidant responses involved in intestinal disturbances caused by T. cruzi infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Andréa Pereira
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sieberg
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hannah R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Cahill
authors.forename: Dazhi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Tania C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Araújo-Jorge
authors.forename: Herbert B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Tanowitz
authors.forename: Linda A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jelicks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000187:drug effects*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D012643:Selenium / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D012643:Selenium