A histopathological and immunohistochemical study of the brain and heart was made in 50 patients with the chronic cardiac form of Chagas' disease. The immunohistochemical technique used was the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method adapted for the demonstration of the T. cruzi amastigotes. Histological and immunohistochemical examination of the brain showed encephalitis in multiple foci, although sparse, in four patients (8%). In one of the patients the process was recent, active, and containing parasites. In the other three patients, the lesions were of minor intensity, with light exudative inflammatory changes, suggesting a process becoming inactive, or already inactive. The search for parasites in these three patients was negative, even with use of immunoperoxidase. The heart histological and immunohistochemical study showed, besides the chronic myocarditis in multiple foci associated with interstitial fibrosis, amastigotes in seven patients (14%). The absence of parasites and of inflammatory changes in the brain in the great majority of patients with chronic Chagas' disease, contrasting with the constant finding of inflammatory changes and the occasional finding of amastigotes in the myocardium of the same patients, allows us to state, in the same way other authors did, that there is no histopathological basis to support the existence of the chronic nervous form of Chagas' disease.
Os aneurismas, assim como o Infarto Agudo do Miocárdio (IAM), se apresentam como evolução aguda da aterosclerose. A incidência do aneurisma de aorta abdominal é de 2% a 4 %, dentre ao quais 10% a 13% têm múltiplos aneurismas, em segmentos diferentes da artéria. Foi realizado exame anatomopatológico macroscópico e microscópico em cadáver do sexo masculino, idoso, não obeso, proveniente do acervo de Laboratório de Anatomia Humana de Faculdade de Medicina. Foi constatada aterosclerose disseminada na aorta e seus ramos, além de aneurisma fusiforme abdominal infrarrenal associado a outros menores em mesmo vaso e aneurisma sacular na artéria comunicante anterior. Foram encontradas alterações renais e miocárdicas correspondentes à isquemia, ainda que na ausência de infarto ou aneurisma roto. Ressaltamos que a ocorrência concomitante de numerosos aneurismas atingindo vasos em diferentes cavidades corporais em um único cadáver não foi reportada anteriormente.
EFFECT OF THE ACUTE INFECTION BY DIFFERENT STRAINS OF Trypanosoma cruzi INTRAUTERINE GROWTH OF THE MOUSE FETUSES The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of the acute maternal infection with different strains of Trypanosoma cruzi on the intrauterine growth of the mouse fetus. Pregnant mice, 60 dayold, were i.p. inoculated with 2 x 10 5 trypomastigotes blood stream of T. cruzi (Colombian, Y, Bolivia or RC strains). The results allow to conclude that the T. cruzi infection affect the intrauterine growth of the mouse fetus, with reduction of both weight and length, umbilical cord length, body weight to placenta weight ratio and body weight to umbilical cord length ratio. T. cruzi strains showed different behavior. In general, the less prejudicial to the fetal growth was the RC strain, whereas the most prejudicial were the Bolivia and Y strains. The parasitemic curves of these strains show the most rapid growth, reaching the peak at the 5th and 7th day, respectively. As inoculation was made to agree the last pregnancy day with the parasitemic peak, the infected animals had the most rapid infection with elevated parasitemy, without possibility of maternal adaptation.
RESUMEN:El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar cariometricamente las alteraciones causadas por diferentes cepas de T. cruzi en la placenta del ratón. Ratones hembras de 60 días, grávidas, fueron inoculadas, intraperitonealmente, con 2 x 10 5 tripomastigotes sanguíneos de las cepas colombiana, Y, Bolivia o RC del T. cruzi. Fueron observadas claras diferencias en las alteraciones cariométricas de las células trofoblásticas gigantes y de las células trofoblásticas de la zona esponjosa. Los resultados demostraron que las cepas colombiana y RC causan alteraciones tanto en las células trofoblásticas gigantes como en las células del trofoblasto esponjoso, mientras que las cepas Y y Bolivia provocan alteraciones solamente en las células trofoblásticas gigantes. Es posible concluir que cada cepa posee características propias y que, a pesar del tipo similar de transmisión, presenta matices diferenciales en el proceso de la patogénesis placentaria.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.