Abstract
Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, remains a serious public health problem in Latin America. In relation to digestive problems, 4.5% of patients show mega syndromes (megacolon) in the chronic phase. In this article, we evaluated intestinal motility at the acute phase of T. cruzi infection through charcoal ingestion in adult mice. After infection, Swiss mice were administered an aqueous suspension of charcoal in water by gavage. Decrease in intestinal motility was determined by increased time of appearance of charcoal in the feces. The uninfected group showed a mean time of charcoal elimination of 109.0 ± 14.6 min throughout the assay. On the other hand, infected mice presented a significant increase in charcoal defecation time during infection. At 15 days postinfection, infected mice showed a significant increase in charcoal defecation time, 310.2 ± 67.4 min when compared to the uninfected group, which presented 97.8 ± 31.8 min, indicating that the T. cruzi infection interferes with intestinal motility. Our results demonstrate that the use of charcoal is an ethical and efficient procedure to evaluate the intestinal motility in the murine model of T. cruzi infection.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adad SJ, Cancado CG, Etchebehere RM (2001) Neuron count reevaluation in the myenteric plexus of chagasic megacolon after morphometric neuron analysis. Virchows Arch 438:254–258
Da Silveira AB, Lemos EM, Adad SJ, Corre-Oliveira R, Furness JB, D’Ávila RD (2007) Megacolon in Chagas disease: a study of inflammatory cells, enteric nerves, and glial cells. Hum Pathol 38:1256–1264
De Rossell RA, Rodriguez AM, De Jesus R, Calcagno M, De Segnini ZM, Diaz S (2000) Tripomastigotes de sangre y de cultivo celular de Trypanosoma cruzi Y.: II.—Patología de la enfermedad de Chagas en ratones Balb/c. Parasitol Día 24:79–87
De Souza AP, Olivieri BP, de Castro SL, Araújo-Jorge TC (2000) Enzymatic markers of heart lesion in mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi and submitted to benznidazole chemotherapy. Parasitol Res 86:800–808
De Souza AP, Melo de Oliveira G, Neve J, Vanderpas J, Pirmez C, de Castro SL, Araujo-Jorge TC, Rivera MT (2002) Trypanosoma cruzi: host selenium deficiency leads to higher mortality but similar parasitemia in mice. Exp Parasitol 101:193–199
Gabella G (1994) Structure of muscles and nerves in the gastrointestinal tract. In: Johnson R (ed) Physiology of gastrointestinal tract, 3rd edn. Raven Press, New York, pp 751–793
Hagger R, Finlayson C, Kahn F, De Oliveira R, Chimelli L, Kumar D (2000) A deficiency of interstitial cells of Cajal in Chagasic megacolon. J Auton Nerv Syst 80:108–111
Köeberle F (1968) Chagas disease and Chagas syndromes: the pathology of American trypanosomiasis. Adv Parasitol 6:63–116
Maifrino LBM, Liberti EA, De Souza RR (1999) Vasoactive-intestinal-peptide- and substance-P-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the myenteric plexus of mouse colon during chronic phase of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 93:49–56
Maifrino LB, Amaral SO, Watanabe I, Liberti EA, De Souza RR (2005) Trypanosoma cruzi: preliminary investigation of NADH-positive and somatostatin-immunoreactive neurons in the myenteric plexus of the mouse colon during the infection. Exp Parasitol 111:224–229
Marona HR, Lucchesi MB (2004) Protocol to refine intestinal motility test in mice. Lab Anim 38:257–260
Mori T, Yoon HS, Iizuka FH, Myung JM, Sato HR, Silva MF, Okumura M (1995) Intestinal transit and opaque enema study in chagasic mice. Rev Hosp Clin Fac Med Sao Paulo 50:63–66
Olivieri BP, de Souza AP, Cotta-de-Almeida V, de Castro SL, Araujo-Jorge T (2006) Trypanosoma cruzi: alteration in the lymphoid compartments following interruption of infection by early acute benznidazole therapy in mice. Exp Parasitol 114:228–234
Silva LHP, Nussenszweig V (1953) Sobre uma cepa de Trypanosoma cruzi altamente virulenta para o camundongo branco. Folia Clinica Biologica 20:191–208
Teixeira ARL, Nitz N, Guimaro MC, Gomes C, Santos-Buch CA (2006) Chagas disease. Postgrad Med J 82:788–798
WHO Expert Committee on the Control of Chagas Disease. World Health Organization (2002) Control of Chagas disease: Second Report of the WHO Expert Committee. Geneva: World Health Organization, p 109
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Dr Linda A. Jelicks for a critical review of the manuscript and to Marcos Meuser Baptista for his technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from CNPq, FIOCRUZ and FAPERJ and was performed in accordance with the guidelines established by the FIOCRUZ Committee of Ethics in Research, protocol number (0099/01) for the use of animals, resolution 196/96.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Oliveira, G.M., de Melo Medeiros, M., da Silva Batista, W. et al. Applicability of the use of charcoal for the evaluation of intestinal motility in a murine model of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Parasitol Res 102, 747–750 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0829-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0829-8