Wistar albino rats infected intraperitonially with different inocula of Y, 12SF and Colombian strains of Trypanosoma cruzi developed high parasitemia, which lowered by the end of the 6th week; mortality varied according with the strain and inoculum. Acute carditis like that occurring in the human, was found in all animals killed or dying spontaneously. The surviving rats were sacrificed in the 8th month of infection. They presented active chronic carditis involving especially the myocardium and the intracardiac nervous system. In most of the animals the myocardial inflammation was focal. In approximately 15% it was zonal or difuse with fibrosis associated with muscle cell hypertrophy. Recent and old thrombosis as well as left ventricular apical dilation occurred in about 20% of those animals. The authors confirm that the albino rat is susceptible to chagasic infection and conclude that it represents a useful model for the study of cardiac manifestations of the human disease.
Chagas' infection; Experimental Chagas' disease; Experimental Chagasic cardiopathy