The male reproductive organs in experimental Chagas' disease. III. Plasma testosterone and accessory sex glands in the acute phase of the disease.

Male Wistar rats were injected i.p. with 2 x 10(5) trypomastigotes of the Bolivia strain. Fifteen days later, few parasite nests were observed in the fibromuscular layer surrounding the seminal vesicle acini of chagasic animals and no parasites were detected in the testis and ventral prostate. A significant decrease was observed in the absolute weight and fructose content of the seminal vesicle and ventral prostate of chagasic rats, which also presented a sharp decrease in plasma testosterone levels.

Estudo comparativo entre diferentes dinamizaçöes do Bioterápico Tripanosominum na doença de Chagas experimental / Comparative study between diferent dinamizations of the biotherapic \"Tripanosominum\"in experimental Chagas disease

O Trypanosoma cruzi, agente etiológico da doença de Chagas, evolui em grande número de espécies de mamíferos, sendo o único tripanossomo que näo se multiplica diretamente no sangue do hospedeiro vertebrado, e sim no interior do citoplasma de células do hospedeiro

Comportamento da curva de infecçäo na doença de Chagas experimental frente a via de administraçäo do Bioterápico Tripanosominum TcD30 / Infectious behavior of experimental Chagas disease as a result of biotherapic Tripanosominum TC D30 treatment

O curso da infecçäo em mamíferos suscetíveis ao Trypanosoma cruzi apresenta características próprias sofrendo, entretanto, a influência de fatores relacionados, principalmente à populaçäo do parasita e ao hospedeiro, entre outros

The male reproductive organs in experimental Chagas' disease. II. Morphometric study of the vas deferens in the chronic phase of the disease.

A previous study showed that the vas deferens of mice in the acute phase of Chagas' disease had a slight increase in the muscle layer area associated with a small decrease in the luminal area. The vas deferens of chronic chagasic mice, investigated in the present experiment, presented a marked increase in the luminal area in addition to a significant thinning of the muscle and epithelium layers. The structural alterations of the vas deferens observed in the acute and chronic phases of Chagas' disease were compared with the evolution of chagasic esophagopathy.

The male reproductive organs in the chronic phase of experimental Chagas' disease.

A previous study showed amastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi in the sex organs of male mice 15 days after inoculation. The purpose of the present work was to investigate the sequelae occurring in the male reproductive system during a later phase of Chagas' disease. Depleted germinal epithelium and release of immature germ cells into the tubular lumen were observed in the testis of chronic chagasic mice. The relative weights of the epididymis, vas deferens and seminal vesicle were significantly increased. Histological examination revealed a sharp thinning of the ductal and acinar walls. The results are discussed in terms of a neuromotor disturbance leading to sperm retention.

A new aspect of the morphological transformation of Trypanosoma cruzi brought about by environmental variation.

The development of Trypanosoma cruzi has been described both in vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, and the morphological transformations of the parasite have been studied in both cell-free cultures and tissue cultures. The investigators who studied this topic have emphasized the fact that the morphogenesis of T. cruzi may be associated with a series of factors. In the present study, we noted that when bloodstream trypomastigotes leave a vertebrate host reaching the digestive tract of triatomines through the blood sucking action of these vectors, specific culture by blood plating or maintenance of blood in physiological saline at different temperatures shows a phenomenon of trypanosome joining, with intensive movement of internal organelles (nucleus and kinetoplast) and junction at the kinetoplast level. Different situations may occur after this phenomenon, such as flagellate separation, passage of kinetoplast content from one individual to another, transformation into rounded elements that approach the pairs of agglomerate, or the formation of spherical elements similar to cyst-like bodies. When observed by light or phase-contrast microscopy, these bodies appear to be static and show inner structures moving in circles or in disorderly manner. On the basis of the molecular studies carried out by other authors, who observed that not all proteins synthetized from DNA are of immediate usefulness in the cell, but need to undergo activation by the action of another protein or of environmental variation, we may infer that T. cruzi, under adverse conditions, i.e. a change in habitat, may undergo transformations, taking on different forms for the exchange of genetic information for adaptation to the environment and for possible continuity of the evolutionary cycle.