ABSTRACT
Crithidia luciliae, a nonpathogenic trypanosomatid, could provide a good alternative source of antigen for serodiagnosis of Chagas' disease. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed 100% sensitivity and 83% specificity when 91 human serum samples from Chagas' disease patients and 127 human serum samples from people suffering from toxoplasmosis (21 samples), leishmaniasis (32 samples), systemic rheumatic diseases (33 samples), and heart diseases (41 samples) were tested simultaneously with Trypanosoma cruzi and C. luciliae crude extracts. By Western blotting, an immunodominant band (30 kDa) was recognized by chagasic sera on the C. luciliae crude extract; specificity reached 97% with respect to this protein band. The carbohydrate moieties were not antigenic.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Protozoan , Chagas Disease/diagnosis , Chagas Disease/immunology , Crithidia/immunology , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods , Serologic Tests/methods , Animals , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Antigens, Protozoan/isolation & purification , Blotting, Western , Case-Control Studies , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/statistics & numerical data , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Humans , Immunodominant Epitopes/isolation & purification , Parasitology/methods , Parasitology/statistics & numerical data , Sensitivity and Specificity , Serologic Tests/statistics & numerical data , Trypanosoma cruzi/immunologyABSTRACT
Seven patients with diagnosis of dilated myocardiopathy, who fulfilled epidemiological, clinical, and serological criteria for chronic American Trypanosomosis, were submitted to hemoculture. Parasites were isolated in two patients (29%) confirming diagnosis and indicating an infection. Antibody titers did not show any relationship with the presence or absence of parasitemia nor were clinical differences noticed. Isolated Trypanosoma cruzi parasites belonged to biodeme III.
Subject(s)
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated/blood , Chagas Cardiomyopathy/blood , Parasitemia/parasitology , Trypanosoma cruzi/isolation & purification , Adult , Aged , Animals , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Cardiomyopathy, Dilated/parasitology , Chronic Disease , Humans , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Middle Aged , Trypanosoma cruzi/immunology , Trypanosoma cruzi/pathogenicity , VirulenceABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of body postural changes (supine-upright), upon the serum concentration of cholesterol (CT), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoproteins (HDL), low density (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and hemoglobin, hematocrit, and plasma proteins (to calculate delta% change in plasma y volume). Nine healthy men participated as subjects. Their age ranged from 32 +/- 3 years old, and 16 +/- 4% body fat (X +/- SD). After 10-12 hours post absorptive and appropriate rest, they performed a standard orthostatic maneuver: subjects remained supine for 30 minutes, then assumed the standing position (unsupported and with minimal movement) for additional 30 minutes. Blood samples were obtained after 30 minutes supine and at 10, 20 and 30 minutes of standing. At 10 minutes of orthostatism, CT, TG, HDL and VLDL had a significant increase as compared to supine values; these changes were associated with a reduction of 8.9% on plasma volume (PV) (p less than 0.05). After 30 minutes of orthostatism CT, TG, HDL and VLDL showed increments of 8.5%, 33.3%, 20.1% and 32% respectively, in relation to the supine values (p less than 0.05). Changes on serum lipids were associated with PV reductions until 20 minutes of orthostatism. However, there was not a significant association between these variables at 30 minutes of standing. These data indicated that the body position and the time in which blood samples are obtained significantly influence lipid and lipoprotein serum level. Therefore, in any study related to lipids, such variables should be considered and properly controlled.
