Susceptibilidad del mono Cebus apella a la inoculacion de distintas cepas de Trypanosoma cruzi

Abstract

For the purpose of determining whether the New World monkey Cebus apella is a suitable experimental model for chronich Chagas' disease in humans, three groups of these monkey were inoculated by the intraperitoneal and conjunctival routes with the CA1, Colombian and Tulahuen strains of Trypanosoma cruzi. Afterwards, some of the animals were reinoculated from time to time in order to approximate more closely the normal characteristics of the infection in man, and a series of parasitologic, hematologic, serologic, enzymatic, radiographic, electrocardiographic, echocardiographic and anatomopathological tests were made to identify the parasite and monitor the course of the disease. Appropriate comparisons were made with a control group. The results indicate that inoculating those primates with three strains of T. cruzi caused no verifiable clinical changes during the acute phase of the infection, but afterwards caused cardiac and colonic impairments similar to those seen in chronic human case of Chagas' disease. The histopathological lesions found in autopsy were also similar to those found in the human form of the disease. These results, joined to the availability of these monkeys and the relatively low cost of keeping them in captivity, indicate that the species Cebus apella could be the most suitable and available animal model for the chronic form of Chagas' disease