Carlos Chagas discovered American trypanosomiasis, also named Chagas disease (CD) in his honor, just over a century ago. He described the clinical aspects of the disease, characterized by its etiological agent ( Trypanosoma cruzi ) and identified its insect vector. Initially, CD occurred only in Latin America and was considered a silent and poorly visible disease. More recently, CD became a neglected worldwide disease with a high morbimortality rate and substantial social impact, emerging as a significant public health threat. In this context, it is crucial to better understand better the epidemiological scenarios of CD and its transmission dynamics, involving people infected and at risk of infection, diversity of the parasite, vector species, and T. cruzi reservoirs. Although efforts have been made by endemic and non-endemic countries to control, treat, and interrupt disease transmission, the cure or complete eradication of CD are still topics of great concern and require global attention. Considering the current scenario of CD, also affecting non-endemic places such as Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan, in this review we aim to describe the spread of CD cases worldwide since its discovery until it has become a global public health concern.

Trypanosoma brucei, as well as Trypanosoma cruzi and more than 20 species of the genus Leishmania, form a group of flagellated protists that threaten human health. These organisms are transmitted by insects that, together with mammals, are their natural hosts. This implies that during their life cycles each of them faces environments with different physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological characteristics. In this work we review how amino acids are obtained from such environments, how they are metabolized, and how they and some of their intermediate metabolites are used as a survival toolbox to cope with the different conditions in which these parasites should establish the infections in the insects and mammalian hosts.

Chagas' disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and affects approximately 10 million people in endemic areas of Mexico and Central and South America. Currently available chemotherapies are limited to two compounds: Nifurtimox and Benznidazole. Both drugs reduce the symptoms of the disease and mortality among infected individuals when used during the acute phase, but their efficacy during the chronic phase (during which the majority of cases are diagnosed) remains controversial. Moreover, these drugs have several side effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Memantine, an antagonist of the glutamate receptor in the CNS of mammals, on the life cycle of T. cruzi. Memantine exhibited a trypanocidal effect, inhibiting the proliferation of epimastigotes (IC50 172.6 µM). Furthermore, this compound interfered with metacyclogenesis (approximately 30% reduction) and affected the energy metabolism of the parasite. In addition, Memantine triggered mechanisms that led to the apoptosis-like cell death of epimastigotes, with extracellular exposure of phosphatidylserine, increased production of reactive oxygen species, decreased ATP levels, increased intracellular Ca2+ and morphological changes. Moreover, Memantine interfered with the intracellular cycle of the parasite, specifically the amastigote stage (IC50 31 µM). Interestingly, the stages of the parasite life cycle that require more energy (epimastigote and amastigote) were more affected as were the processes of differentiation and cell invasion.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the aetiological agent of Chagas's disease, metabolizes glucose, and after its exhaustion, degrades amino acids as energy source. Here, we investigate histidine uptake and its participation in energy metabolism. No putative genes for the histidine biosynthetic pathway have been identified in genome databases of T. cruzi, suggesting that its uptake from extracellular medium is a requirement for the viability of the parasite. From this assumption, we characterized the uptake of histidine in T. cruzi, showing that this amino acid is incorporated through a single and saturable active system. We also show that histidine can be completely oxidised to CO2. This finding, together with the fact that genes encoding the putative enzymes for the histidine - glutamate degradation pathway were annotated, led us to infer its participation in the energy metabolism of the parasite. Here, we show that His is capable of restoring cell viability after long-term starvation. We confirm that as an energy source, His provides electrons to the electron transport chain, maintaining mitochondrial inner membrane potential and O2 consumption in a very efficient manner. Additionally, ATP biosynthesis from oxidative phosphorylation was found when His was the only oxidisable metabolite present, showing that this amino acid is involved in bioenergetics and parasite persistence within its invertebrate host.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, consumes glucose and amino acids depending on the environmental availability of each nutrient during its complex life cycle. For example, amino acids are the major energy and carbon sources in the intracellular stages of the T. cruzi parasite, but their consumption produces an accumulation of NH4+ in the environment, which is toxic. These parasites do not have a functional urea cycle to secrete excess nitrogen as low-toxicity waste. Glutamine synthetase (GS) plays a central role in regulating the carbon/nitrogen balance in the metabolism of most living organisms. We show here that the gene TcGS from T. cruzi encodes a functional glutamine synthetase; it can complement a defect in the GLN1 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and utilizes ATP, glutamate and ammonium to yield glutamine in vitro. Overall, its kinetic characteristics are similar to other eukaryotic enzymes, and it is dependent on divalent cations. Its cytosolic/mitochondrial localization was confirmed by immunofluorescence. Inhibition by Methionine sulfoximine revealed that GS activity is indispensable under excess ammonium conditions. Coincidently, its expression levels are maximal in the amastigote stage of the life cycle, when amino acids are preferably consumed, and NH4+ production is predictable. During host-cell invasion, TcGS is required for the parasite to escape from the parasitophorous vacuole, a process sine qua non for the parasite to replicate and establish infection in host cells. These results are the first to establish a link between the activity of a metabolic enzyme and the ability of a parasite to reach its intracellular niche to replicate and establish host-cell infection.

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dTrypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, affecting approximately 10 million people in the Americas and with some 40 million people at risk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-T. cruzi activity of three new diamidines that have a 3,4-ethylenedioxy extension of the thiophene core, designated MB17, MB19, and MB38. All three diamidines exhibited dose-dependent inhibition of epimastigote replication. The mechanisms of action of these diamidines were investigated. Unlike MB17 and MB19, MB38 exhibited a significant increase in the number of annexin-propidium iodide double-labeled cells compared to levels in control parasites. As MB17 had shown a lower 50% inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) against epimastigote growth, the mechanism of action of this drug was studied in more detail. MB17 triggered a decrease in the intracellular ATP levels. As a consequence, MB17 affected the genomic DNA and kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) and impaired the parasite cell cycle. Moreover, MB17 caused DNA fragmentation, with a more severe effect on kDNA than on nuclear DNA, resulting in dyskinetoplastic cells. MB17 was tested for toxicity and effectiveness for the treatment of infected CHO-K 1 cells, exhibiting a 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC 50 ) of 13.47 ؎ 0.37 M and an IC 50 of 0.14 ؎ 0.12 M against trypomastigote release. MB17 also diminished the infection index by 60% at 0.5 M. In conclusion, despite belonging to the same family, these diamidines have different efficiencies. To summarize, MB17 was the most potent of these diamidines against epimastigotes, producing DNA damage preferentially in kDNA, impairing the parasite cell cycle, and decreasing the infection index and trypomastigote release from infected mammalian host cells, with a high selectivity index (SI) (<90). These data suggest that MB17 could be an interesting lead compound against T. cruzi. A merican trypanosomiasis, or Chagas disease, affects approximately 10 million people, with 40 million people at risk of acquiring the infection. Chagas disease is endemic to South and Central America and the southern states of the United States. Currently, it is also spreading in Europe and the rest of North America due to the immigration of infected people, as well as through transmission of the disease by transfusions, transplants, and congenital mechanisms (1, 2). The disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which shares some distinctive features with other trypanosomes, such as the presence of a flagellum and of a kinetoplast, a complex structure bearing the mitochondrial genome. In this case, the mitochondrial genomic DNA is referred to as kinetoplast DNA, or kDNA. It consists of a great number of relaxed circular DNA molecules interlocked with each other to form a catenated DNA network (3). T. cruzi has a complex life cycle, which occurs within invertebrate and vertebrate hosts (4-6). Chagas disease presents two clinical phases, the acute phase, which appears shortly after infection and is characterized by an evident parasitemia and ...

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