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Trypanosoma cruzi strains in the Calomys callosus: parasitemia and reaction of intracellular forms with stage-specific antibodies in the acute and chronic phase of infection and after immunosuppression

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Abstract

An experimental model for chronic Chagas disease was developed to investigate whether reactivation is influenced by the genetic origin of Trypanosoma cruzi isolates. In addition, we examined whether the distribution of T. cruzi stage-specific epitopes, as defined by monoclonal antibodies (Mab), raised against mammalian-stage parasite forms, exhibited comparable distribution patterns in Calomys callosus myocardium during the acute phase and after reactivation of the infection. Animals were infected with parasites of the G (T. cruzi I), Y (T.cruzi II) or CL strains (T. cruzi VI). Heart sections were labelled with the Mabs 2C2, 1D9, 2B7, 3B9 and 4B9, which react with carbohydrate epitopes on Ssp-4, a major amastigote surface glycoprotein. Mab 1D9 and 2B7 showed polymorphic distributions over amastigotes among animals infected with the G, Y or CL strains. Mab 3B2, which recognises a non-carbohydrate epitope in flagellated forms, showed an active state of parasite dissemination in the myocardium of C. callosus that were infected with Y or CL strains and then immunosuppressed after 6 or 12 months. C. callosus infected with the G strain (T. cruzi I) displayed absence of amastigote nests in the heart after immunosuppression. Our results permit us to suggest that parasites of the G strain may be more sensitive to the immune response, since we could not find either evidence of parasitemia or amastigote nests. Conversely, parasites from the Y and CL strains appeared able to escape the immune response, as evidenced by an inflammatory infiltrate and disseminated infection after immunosuppression.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Marina Oyafuso from Pathology Center of Adolfo Lutz Institute for providing help in her laboratory and Cleide Pestana da Costa Santos and Maria de Fatima de Arruda Silva of the Experimentation Animal Facility for their special care with research animals. This work was supported by grants from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) (2007/00860-9) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) (471063-2006-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electron Microscopy Unit, Adolfo Lutz Institute, Av. Dr. Arnaldo 355, 01246-902, São Paulo (SP), Brazil

    Noemi Nosomi Taniwaki, Viviane Martinelli Gonçalves & Julianna Kesselring Romero

  2. Department of Immunology, Biomedical Sciences Institute, Federal University of Uberlândia, Av. Pará, 1720, 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Claudio Vieira da Silva

  3. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of São Paulo - UNIFESP, R. Botucatu, 862 6˚ andar, 04023-062, São Paulo, Brazil

    Viviane Martinelli Gonçalves, Solange da Silva & Renato Arruda Mortara

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  1. Noemi Nosomi Taniwaki
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  2. Viviane Martinelli Gonçalves
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  3. Julianna Kesselring Romero
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  4. Claudio Vieira da Silva
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  5. Solange da Silva
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  6. Renato Arruda Mortara
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Correspondence to Noemi Nosomi Taniwaki.

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Taniwaki, N.N., Gonçalves, V.M., Romero, J.K. et al. Trypanosoma cruzi strains in the Calomys callosus: parasitemia and reaction of intracellular forms with stage-specific antibodies in the acute and chronic phase of infection and after immunosuppression. Parasitol Res 109, 431–440 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2273-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2273-z

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