Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease.

Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2015 Dec 11; Authors: Vilar-Pereira G, Ruivo LA, Lannes-Vieira J Abstract The existence of the nervous form of Chagas disease is a matter of discussion since Carlos Chagas described neurological disorders, learning and behavioural alterations in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals. In most patients, the clinical manifestations of the acute phase, including neurological abnormalities, resolve spontaneously without apparent consequence in the chronic phase of infection. However, chronic Chagas disease patients have behavioural changes such as psychomotor alterations, attention and memory deficits, and depression. In the present study, we tested whether or not behavioural alterations are reproducible in experimental models. We show that C57BL/6 mice chronically infected with the Colombian strain of T. cruzi (150 days post-infection) exhibit behavioural changes as (i) depression in the tail suspension and forced swim tests, (ii) anxiety analysed by elevated plus maze and open field test sand and (iii) motor coordination in the rotarod test. These alterations are neither associated with neuromuscular disorders assessed by the grip strength test nor with sickness behaviour analysed by temperature variation sand weight loss. Therefore, chronically T. cruzi-infected mice replicate behavioural alterations (depression...
Source: Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz Source Type: research