Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Sep 1999)

Trypanosoma cruzi-cardiomyocytes: new contributions regarding a better understanding of this interaction

  • Maria de Nazareth Leal de Meirelles,
  • Mirian Claudia S Pereira,
  • Robert H Singer,
  • Maria de Nazaré C Soeiro,
  • Luciana R Garzoni,
  • Dayse T Silva,
  • Helene S Barbosa,
  • Tania C Araujo-Jorge,
  • Masako O Masuda,
  • Marcia AM Capella,
  • Anibal Gil Lopes,
  • Alane B Vermelho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02761999000700017
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 94
pp. 149 – 152

Abstract

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The present paper summarizes new approaches regarding the progress done to the understanding of the interaction of Trypanosoma cruzi-cardiomyocytes. Mannose receptors localized at the surface of heart muscle cell are involved in binding and uptake of the parasite. One of the most striking events in the parasite-heart muscle cells interaction is the disruption of the actin cytoskeleton. We have investigated the regulation of the actin mRNA during the cytopathology induced in myocardial cells by the parasite. T. cruzi invasion increases calcium resting levels in cardiomyocytes. We have previously shown that Ca2+ ATPase of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SERCA) is involved in the invasion of T. cruzi in cardiomyocytes. Treating the cells with thapsigargin, a drug that binds to all SERCA ATPases and causes depletion of intracellular calcium stores, we found a 75% inhibition in the T. cruzi-cardiomyocytes invasion.

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