Efeito biológico da Lecitina ArtinM na fase crônica da Infecção experimental pelo Trypanosoma cruzi

Abstract

Introduction: Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection and the host immune response profile is essential for infection control. ArtinM, from Artocarpus heterophyllus, a mannose-binding lectin, modulates immunity to the Th1 axis and confers resistance to intracellular pathogens. Objectives: To analyze the effect of the immunomodulation promoted by ArtinM during the chronic phase of the experimental infection by T. cruzi. Material and Methods: We used 39 BALB/c mice, with 10 weeks of age constituting the groups: Control, PBS and ArtinM. For the infection, a concentration of parasites of 3x103 blood trypomastigotes subcutaneously was used. The animals of the Control and PBS groups received 100μl of 1x PBS solution and for the ArtinM group, the ArtinM lectin was administered at the concentration of 0.5μg/100μl subcutaneously. Treatments were carried out for 3 consecutive days and after 2 days of rest the infection with the Colombian strain of T. cruzi was performed. Subsequently the animals received treatment every 5 days after infection for 30 days. Daily weighing and parasitemia were performed every 7 days. After 90 days of infection the animals were euthanized and submitted to necropsy. The blood, heart and intestine were collected. Results: The infected animals obtained a weight gain until the 15th day after infection. Subsequently they lost weight percentage, not evidencing significant differences between the infected groups. For the parasitemia curve there was a 28 day peak for both groups, the ArtinM group showed significant differences compared to the PBS group to date. For leukogram and cytokines (TNF-α, IL-12p40, IFN-γ and IL-10) there were no differences between the groups tested. The quantification of the number of cells/mm2 and percentage of collagen in cardiac and intestinal tissue showed significant differences between the infected groups compared to the Control group. The number of T. cruzi/cm2 nests for both tissues showed a slight decrease in the ArtinM group. Conclusion: Lectin ArtinM presented a biological effect on chronic T. cruzi infection.