antigen detection in blood to assess treatment efficacy and cure in mice models of Chagas disease.

Introduction: Chagas disease (CD) is caused by the protozoan parasite . Although endemic mainly in Latin America, CD has become a global public health problem due to migration of infected individuals to non-endemic regions. Despite progress made in drug development, preclinical assays for drug discovery are required to accelerate the development of new drugs with reduced side effects, which are much needed for human treatment.

The entrance route: Oral, mucous, cutaneous, or systemic has a marked influence on the outcome of Trypanosoma cruzi experimental infection.

In recent decades, the oral infection of Trypanosoma cruzi has gathered increased attention due to frequent outbreaks that can lead to more severe clinical signs than those usually found in the areas of vector transmission. This study addresses the main routes of infection using metacyclic trypomastigotes (MT) and blood trypomastigotes (BT). Herein, BALB/c mice were infected with the Colombian (TcI) strain via intraperitoneal (IP), oral, intragastric (IG), ocular (OC) and cutaneous (CT) routes with 10 culture-derived MT or BT.

L-arginine supplementation increases cardiac collagenogenesis in mice chronically infected with Berenice-78 Trypanosoma cruzi strain.

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a major neglected tropical disease that occurs mainly as chronic infection and systemic infection. Currently, there is no suitable and effective drug to treat this parasitic disease. Administration of nutrients with immunomodulatory properties, such as arginine and nitric oxide radicals, may be helpful as antiparasitic therapy.

Nitrotriazole-Based Compounds as Antichagasic Agents in a Long-Treatment Assay.

3-Nitrotriazole-based compounds belonging to various chemical subclasses were found to be very effective against Chagas disease both and after a short administration schedule. In this study, five compounds with specific characteristics were selected to be administered for longer periods of time to mice infected with the virulent Y strain to further evaluate their effectiveness as antichagasic agents and whether or not potential adverse effects occur. Benznidazole was included for comparison purposes.

Low doses of simvastatin therapy ameliorate cardiac inflammatory remodeling in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected dogs.

Chagas cardiomyopathy remodeling is based on the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi in heart tissue and on the complex inflammatory response leading to a myocardium fibrosis and alterations in conductive and functional heart parameters. This study aims to evaluate Simvastatin on the inflammatory response and heart functionality using dogs infected with Y strain of T. cruzi.