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Objectives Determine the pathological importance of oxidative stress-induced injurious processes in chagasic heart dysfunction. Background Trypanosoma cruzi-induced inflammatory pathology and a feedback cycle of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress may contribute to Chagas disease. Methods Sprague Dawley rats were infected with T. cruzi, and treated with phenyl-α-tert-butylnitrone (PBN/antioxidant) and/or benzonidazole (BZ/anti-parasite). We monitored myocardial parasite burden, oxidative adducts, mitochondrial complex activities, respiration and ATP synthesis rates, and inflammatory and cardiac remodeling responses during disease development. Cardiac hemodynamics was determined for all rats. Results BZ (not PBN) decreased the parasite persistence and immune adverse events (proinflammatory cytokine expression, NADPH (β-Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate, reduced) oxidase and myeloperoxidase activities, and inflammatory infiltrate) in chronic hearts. PBN±BZ (not BZ alone) decreased the mtROS level, oxidative adducts (malonyldialdehyde, 4-hydroxynonenal, carbonyls), hypertrophic gene expression (ANP, BNP, αsk-Actin), and collagen deposition, and preserved the respiratory chain efficiency and energy status in chronic hearts. Subsequently, left ventricular dysfunction was prevented in PBN±BZ-treated chagasic rats. Conclusions BZ treatment after acute stage decreased the parasite persistence and inflammatory pathology. Yet, oxidative adducts, mitochondrial dysfunction and remodeling responses persisted and contributed to declining cardiac function in chagasic rats. Combinatorial treatment (PBN+BZ) was beneficial in arresting the T. cruzi-induced inflammatory and oxidative pathology and chronic heart failure in chagasic rats.

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There is growing evidence to suggest that chagasic myocardia are exposed to sustained oxidative stress induced injuries that may contribute to disease progression. Trypanosoma cruzi invasion- and replication-mediated cellular injuries and immune-mediated cytotoxic reactions are the common source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during acute infection. Mitochondria are proposed to be the major source of ROS in chronic chagasic hearts. However, it has not been established yet, whether mitochondrial dysfunction is a causative factor in chagasic cardiomyopathy or a consequence of other pathological events. A better understanding of oxidative stress in relation to cardiac tissue damage would be useful in the evaluation of its true role in the pathogenesis of Chagas disease and other heart diseases. In this review, we discuss the evidence for increased oxidative stress in chagasic disease, with emphasis on mitochondrial abnormalities, and its role in sustaining oxidative stress in myocardium.

In this study, we investigated the role of Trypanosoma cruzi invasion and inflammatory processes in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in mouse atrial cardiomyocyte line (HL-1) and primary adult rat ventricular cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocytes were incubated with T. cruzi (Tc) trypomastigotes, Tc lysate (TcTL) or Tc secreted proteins (TcSP) for 0-72 h, and ROS measured by amplex red assay. Cardiomyocytes infected by T. cruzi (but not those incubated with TcTL or TcSP) exhibited a linear increase in ROS production during 2-48 h post-infection (max.18-fold increase) which was further enhanced by recombinant cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α and IFN-γ). We observed no increase in NADPH oxidase, xanthine oxidase, and myeloperoxidase activities, and specific inhibitor of these enzymes did not block the increased rate of ROS production in infected cardiomyocytes. Instead, the mitochondrial membrane potential was perturbed, and resulted in inefficient electron transport chain (ETC) activity, and enhanced electron leakage and ROS formation in infected cardiomyocytes. HL-1 rho (ρ) cardiomyocytes lacked a functional ETC, and exhibited no increase in ROS formation in response to T. cruzi. Together, these results demonstrate that invasion by T. cruzi and inflammatory milieu affect mitochondrial integrity and contribute to electron transport chain inefficiency and ROS production in cardiomyocytes.

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The ultrastructural features of West Nile virus (WNV) replication and dissemination in orally infected Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus Say were analyzed over a 25-d infection period. To investigate the effects of virus replication on membrane induction, cellular organization, and cell viability in midgut and salivary gland tissues, midguts were dissected on days 3, 7, 14, and 21, and salivary glands were collected on days 7, 14, 21, and 25 postinfection (d.p.i.) for examination by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Whole mosquito heads were embedded for TEM analysis 14 d.p.i. to localize WNV particles and to investigate the effects of replication on nervous tissues of the brain. Membrane proliferation was induced by WNV in the midgut epithelium, midgut muscles, and salivary glands, although extensive endoplasmic reticulum swelling was a unique feature of salivary gland infection. TEM revealed WNV-induced pathology in salivary glands at 14, 21, and 25 d.p.i., and we hypothesize that long-term virus infection of this tissue results in severe cellular degeneration and apoptotic-like cell death. This finding indicates that the efficiency of WNV transmission may decrease with mosquito age postinfection.

In this study, we investigated the mechanism(s) of mitochondrial functional decline in acute Chagas' disease. Our data show a substantial decline in respiratory complex activities (39 to 58%) and ATP (38%) content in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected murine hearts compared with normal controls. These metabolic alterations were associated with an approximately fivefold increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production rate, substantial oxidative insult of mitochondrial membranes and respiratory complex subunits, and >60% inhibition of mtDNA-encoded transcripts for respiratory complex subunits in infected myocardium. The antioxidant phenyl-␣-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN) arrested the oxidative damage-mediated loss in mitochondrial membrane integrity, preserved redox potential-coupled mitochondrial gene expression, and improved respiratory complex activities (47 to 95% increase) and cardiac ATP level (>40% increase) in infected myocardium. Importantly, PBN resulted twofold decline in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production rate in infected myocardium. Taken together, our data demonstrate the pathological significance of oxidative stress in metabolic decay and energy homeostasis in acute chagasic myocarditis and further suggest that oxidative injuries affecting mitochondrial integrity-dependent expression and activity of the respiratory complexes initiate a feedback cycle of electron transport chain inefficiency, increased reactive oxygen species production, and energy homeostasis in acute chagasic hearts. PBN and other mitochondria-targeted antioxidants may be useful in altering mitochondrial decay and oxidative pathology in Chagas' disease. Chagas' disease is a pathological process induced by infections with the hemoflagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is a major human health problem in the southern parts of the American continent.1 In Ͼ95% of acutely infected individuals, parasitemia is controlled by the immune system. After several years of a clinically silent but ongoing process of organelle and myocardial degeneration, Ͼ40% of seropositive patients develop chronic cardiomyopathy.Since early findings of abnormal mitochondria in cardiac biopsies obtained from seropositive patients, 2 mitochondrial impairment has been associated with cardiac dysfunction in Chagas' disease. Quantitative light and electron microscopic analysis of the myocardial biopsy samples from human chagasic patients and experimental models has revealed that mitochondrial degenerative changes occur early in the course of T. cruzi infection and are exacerbated with progressive disease severity. 2-5The functional decline of cardiac mitochondria in experimental models of Chagas' disease was shown by impaired activities of the respiratory complexes that contain subunits encoded by mtDNA and nDNA.6 -8 The demonstration of inefficient ATP production in infected mice 8 provided the first indication of the physiological effects of mitochondrial dysfunction in chagasic hearts.Toward understanding the mechanism(s) of mitochondrial decay, it...