[Cardiac neuronal depopulation in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi]. / Despopulação neuronal cardíaca em hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) cronicamente infectados com o Trypanosoma cruzi.

The aim of this study was to obtain an experimental animal model of destruction of cardiac neurons in order to investigate the behavior of the cardiac nervous system of hamsters chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. We counted the neuronal cells of the cardiac autonomic nervous plexus in hamsters inoculated with 35,000 blood forms of three different T. cruzi strains and killed 5, 8 and 10 months after infection. We showed for the first time severe neuronal destruction in an experimental animal model with characteristics similar to those observed in human Chagas'disease.