Vidal-López DG, Díaz-Gómez J, Schlie-Guzmán MA, Gutiérrez-Jiménez J, Flores-Villegas AL, Moreno-Rodríguez A, De Fuentes-Vicente JA

Language: Spanish
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Page: 1-10
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ABSTRACT

Objectives: genetically characterize a strain of Trypanosoma cruzi isolated in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and evaluate its effect on gestation in Wistar rats.
Methods: evaluation was conducted of the damage caused to gestation in Wistar rats infected with the strain ITR/MX/10/COP of T. cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease. Two groups of ten female rats were infected intraperitoneally with 1 x 106 blood trypomastigotes. One group was mated 19 days postinfection (acute stage) and the other 59 days postinfection (chronic stage). Ten non-infected mated rats were used as control. Before the end of gestation, the rats were sacrificed to estimate the number, weight and length of fetuses, as well as placenta and umbilical cord measurements.
Results: fetuses from the groups infected with T. cruzi showed a significant decrease in number, weight and length (p< 0.05), while placenta and umbilical cord measurements were lower in the experimental groups (p< 0.05), but no significant differences were found between the groups.
Conclusions: acute and chronic infection by T. cruzi in a region of Chiapas, Mexico, characterized as Tcl, may cause considerable damage during gestation.