Effect of malnutrition on susceptibility of rats to Trypanosoma cruzi. III. Pantothenate deficiency

Nutritional Status Driving Infection byTrypanosoma cruzi: Lessons from Experimental Animals

“…The slight increase in severity of infection as evidenced by cardiac damage and higher parasitemia was attributed to inanition rather than to deficiency of the vitamin [71]. On the other hand, when pantothenate (vitamin B 5 ) deficiency was used on the T. cruzi infection, also in albino rats, it was observed that (i) T. cruzi produced more severe infections in vitamin B 5 -deficient rats than in normal ones and inanition control groups of rats (ii) parasitemia was higher and cardiac lesions were usually more extensive in the vitamin B 5 -deficient animals, and, finally, (iii) the incidence of lung infections among vitamin B 5 -deficient rats suggests that this deficiency may increase the susceptibility of rats to spontaneous respiratory disease [72]. This same investigative group also demonstrated that rats maintained on a diet from pyridoxine (vitamin B 6 ) and vitamin A, were more susceptible to T. cruzi infection, with higher parasitemia and myocarditis [73, 74].…”

Small molecule mediators of host-T. cruzi-environment interactions in Chagas disease

“…Long-term vitamin C supplementation increased cardiac damage at the chronic stage [148], while acute-stage treatment reduced parasitemia, cardiac parasite burden, and cardiac inflammation [149]. Vitamin A, B1, B5, and B6 deficiency increases parasitemia and cardiac damage in a rat model of infection [150][151][152][153]. In contrast, little effect was observed for vitamin B2 deficiency [154].…”