Journal
ACTA PARASITOLOGICA
Volume 60, Issue 3, Pages 435-441Publisher
WALTER DE GRUYTER GMBH
DOI: 10.1515/ap-2015-0060
Keywords
Trypanosoma cruzi; experimental mixed infection; biological behavior; blood parasitism; LSSP-PCR
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Funding
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [Universal MCT/CNPq 14/2008]
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais [01/11CBB APQ 02224/11]
- Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)
- Fundacao de Ensino e Pesquisa de Uberaba-Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro
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Trypanosoma cruzi (Tc), the causative agent of Chagas disease, affects millions of people worldwide. One of the major characteristics of T. cruzi is related to its heterogeneity due to the variability of its biological properties, parasite growth rates, infectivity, tissue tropism, morbidity and virulence among different isolates observed during experimental or human infection. Moreover, presence of mixed infections in the same host in endemic areas is a matter of study due to its impact on clinical manifestations and disease progression. In this study, we evaluated the biological behavior of two Tc I strains AQ1-7 (AQ) and MUTUM (MT) and one Tc II strain (JG) during the acute phase of infection, in unique and mixed infections. A patent blood parasitism was detected only in mice inoculated with JG strain. In addition blood parasitism parameters (peak and average blood parasitism) were positively associated when JG and AQ strains were combined. In contrast, a negative association was observed in the JG+MUTUM group. The predominance of TcII strain over TcI strains was highlighted using the LSSP-PCR technique, which was performed in samples from hemoculture. Thus, this study showed important biological differences between different T. cruzi strains and discrete typing units (DTUs) in acute phase. Finally, we observed that blood parasitism during early period of infection seems to be more related to DTU than to a specific strain.
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