title: Trypanosoma evansi: concentration of 3-nitrotyrosine in the brain of infected rats.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in many physiological processes, such as blood pressure control, neurotransmission, inhibition of platelet and neutrophil adherence, and the ability to kill tumor cells and parasites. The indirect determination of NO can be made by detection of 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) residues. The aim of this study was to measure the concentration of 3-NT in the brain of rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma evansi. Twenty-four were inoculated intraperitoneally with cryopreserved blood containing 1×10(6) trypomastigotes per animal. Twenty-four animals were used as negative controls and received 0.2 mL of saline by the same route. The experimental groups (group C and T) were established according to the time after infection and the degree of parasitemia as follows: four control subgroups (C3, C5, C10 and C20) with six non-inoculated animals each and four test subgroups (T3, T5, T10 and T20) with six animals infected with T. evansi in each group. The animals were anesthetized with isoflurane and subsequently euthanized at the days 3 (C3, T3), 5 (C5, T5), 10 (C10, T10) and 20 (C20, T20) post-infection (PI). The brain was removed and dissected into cerebellum, cerebral cortex, striatum and hippocampus. Concentration of 3-NT in the brain was determined by Slot blot technique. At the day 3 PI no changes were observed in the concentration of 3-NT among the groups. There was a significant reduction (p<0.05) of 3-NT concentration in the striatum and cerebellum at the days 5 and 10 PI, respectively. At the day 20 PI a significant increase (p<0.05) of 3-NT was observed in the cerebellum, cerebral cortex and hippocampus from the infected animals. Therefore, T. evansi infection caused changes in the concentrations of 3-NT in the central nervous system (CNS), which may be related to clinical signs and infection management.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Veterinary Clinical Analysis-LACVet, Federal University of Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. franchimelo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Francine C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Paim
authors.forename: Aleksandro S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Da Silva
authors.forename: Patrícia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wolkmer
authors.forename: Márcio M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Cássia B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Da Silva
authors.forename: Carlos B V
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Paim
authors.forename: Mauro S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Luiz F A
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Carlos F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Mello
authors.forename: Silvia G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.forename: Cinthia M A
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mazzanti
authors.forename: Sonia T A
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lopes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000737:chemistry; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000737:chemistry; D004285:Dogs; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000737:chemistry; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: C002744:3-nitrotyrosine; D014443:Tyrosine