Murine Models of Acute and Chronic Chagas Disease

Five to seven week old female, Swiss and C57BL/6, mice were infected with 5000 and 1000 blood stage T. cruzi trypomastigotes, respectively [13] (link), [19] (link), [21] (link). Swiss mice infected with the T. cruzi Colombiana strain were representative of the acute phase model of CD [13] (link). C57BL/6 mice infected with the T. cruzi Colombiana strain were representative of the chronic phase model of CD [21] (link). Parasite levels were determined using light microscopy obtained via tail vein bleed [19] (link), [22] (link). The myotropic Colombiana strain and the Y strain of T. cruzi were maintained by serial passage every 21 and 10 days, in Swiss mice, respectively. The Y, Colombiana and 0704 strains of T. cruzi were cultured in-vitro using 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells [19] (link), [23] (link). Infected 3T3 cell culture supernatant was collected and concentrated to obtain the TESA fraction [19] (link). Protein extracts from parasites unrelated to T. cruzi, such as Plasmodium falciparum infected RBCs, promastigotes of Leishmania donovani, Leishmania major and Leishmania infantum were obtained as described earlier [19] (link).