Trypanosoma cruzi: chemotherapy with benznidazole in mice inoculated with strains from Paraná state and from different endemic areas of Brazil.

Strains of Trypanosoma cruzi from different geographical areas have shown different levels of susceptibility to trypanosomicidal drugs. The susceptibility in vivo to benznidazole was investigated in eighteen strains of T. cruzi. Twelve were isolated from chronic chagasic patients from different Chagas' disease endemic areas. The other six strains were isolated from the northwestern region of Paraná state; two of them from patients, three from triatomines (Triatoma sordida) and one from wild reservoir (Didelphis sp.). To test drug the infected mice were divided into two groups of twenty. One group was treated with benznidazole for twenty consecutive days and the other group was used as untreated control. The treatment began after detection of the infection by direct blood examination or haemoculture. The control of cure was done through haemoculture and indirect immunofluorescence test. The drug eliminated the inflammatory lesions of the skeletal muscle of mice considered cured and from the heart of most of them. Moreover, the inflammatory lesions were reduced in treated but not cured animals. The T. cruzi strains studied showed a gradient of drug susceptibility that varied from 0% to 100%. Ten strains were considered sensitive to the treatment (61 to 100% of cure), one strain was partially sensitive (50% of cure) and seven strains were considered resistant to the treatment (0 to 40% of cure). This variation was observed both in strains of T. cruzi isolated from domestic and sylvatic cycles.

[1]  Mínistério da Saúde.  TRATAMENTO ETIOLÓGICO DA DOENÇA DE CHAGAS , 1996 .

[2]  P. Wincker,et al.  Trypanosoma cruzi: parasite detection and strain discrimination in chronic chagasic patients from northeastern Brazil using PCR amplification of kinetoplast DNA and nonradioactive hybridization. , 1995, Experimental parasitology.

[3]  M. A. Basombrío,et al.  Reversibility of muscle and heart lesions in chronic, Trypanosoma cruzi infected mice after late trypanomicidal treatment. , 1994, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.

[4]  M. R. Silva,et al.  [The evaluation of ketoconazole in mice inoculated with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis by liver and spleen histopathology and by the intradermal paracoccidioidin reaction]. , 1994, Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical.

[5]  A. Simpson,et al.  Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi strains. , 1993, Molecular and biochemical parasitology.

[6]  J. Urbina,et al.  Experimental chemotherapy with combinations of ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors in murine models of Chagas' disease , 1993, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

[7]  F. Pileggi,et al.  Correlation between Trypanosoma cruzi parasitism and myocardial inflammatory infiltrate in human chronic chagasic myocarditis: Light microscopy and immunohistochemical findings. , 1993, Cardiovascular pathology : the official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology.

[8]  L. Filardi,et al.  An experimental and clinical assay with ketoconazole in the treatment of Chagas disease. , 1993, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.

[9]  S. G. Andrade,et al.  Specific chemotherapy of Chagas disease: a comparison between the response in patients and experimental animals inoculated with the same strains. , 1992, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

[10]  S. G. Andrade,et al.  Reversibility of cardiac fibrosis in mice chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, under specific chemotherapy. , 1991, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.

[11]  S. G. Andrade,et al.  Experimental chemotherapy of Trypanosoma cruzi infection: persistence of parasite antigens and positive serology in parasitologically cured mice. , 1991, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[12]  S. G. Andrade,et al.  [Therapy of the chronic phase of the experimental infection by Trypanosoma cruzi with benzonidazole and nifurtimox]. , 1989, Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical.

[13]  Alvaro J. Romanha,et al.  Isolamento de amostras do Trypanosoma cruzi por xenodiagnóstico e hemocultura de pacientes na fase crônica da doença de Chagas , 1989 .

[14]  E. Chiari,et al.  Hemocultures for the parasitological diagnosis of human chronic Chagas' disease. , 1989, Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical.

[15]  F. Ayala,et al.  ISOZYME VARIABILITY IN TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI, THE AGENT OF CHAGAS' DISEASE: GENETICAL, TAXONOMICAL, AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE , 1988, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[16]  L. Filardi,et al.  Susceptibility and natural resistance of Trypanosoma cruzi strains to drugs used clinically in Chagas disease. , 1987, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

[17]  V. D. P. Teixeira,et al.  Estudo comparativo entre o método convencional e o método da peroxidase anti-peroxidase na pesquisa do parasitismo tissular na cardiopatia chagásica crônica , 1986 .

[18]  S. G. Andrade,et al.  Evaluation of chemotherapy with benznidazole and nifurtimox in mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi strains of different types. , 1985, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[19]  G. Silva,et al.  Inquérito sorológico da prevalência de infecção chagásica no Brasil, 1975/1980 , 1984 .

[20]  Z. Brener.  Recent advances in the chemotherapy of Chagas' disease , 1984 .

[21]  Z. Brener,et al.  Criterion of cure of human Chagas' disease after specific chemotherapy: recent advances , 1984 .

[22]  A. Rassi.  [Etiological treatment of Chagas' disease]. , 1982, Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia.

[23]  J. Baldy,et al.  Prevalence of infection by Trypanosoma cruzi in 1975, in two blood banks in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil , 1978 .

[24]  Z. Brener,et al.  Differences in the susceptibility of Trypanosoma cruzi strains to active chemotherapeutic agents. , 1976, Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo.

[25]  A. Prata,et al.  Tratamento da Doença de Chagas pelo Nifurtimox (Bayer 2502) , 1975 .

[26]  A. Rassi,et al.  Tentativa de tratamento específico da fase aguda da doença de Chagas com nitrofuranos em esquema de duração prolongada , 1971 .

[27]  E. Camargo.  GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATION IN TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI. I. ORIGIN OF METACYCLIC TRYPANOSOMES IN LIQUID MEDIA. , 1964, Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo.

[28]  Z. Brener.  Therapeutic activity and criterion of cure on mice experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. , 1962, Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo.

[29]  H. C. Souza-Araujo.  A doença de Chagas no Paraná , 1954 .