Cardiac plexus of dogs experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi: inflammatory lesions and quantitative studies.

Abstract

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of the superficial and profound cardiac plexus of dogs experimentally infected with Be-62 and Be-78 strains of Trypanosoma cruzi were studied. Animals were autopsied in the acute phase o f infection. The inflammatory process, lesions and number of parasites were more intense and frequent in animals infected with the Be-78 strain than in those infected with Be-62. Despite this, no statistically significant differences could be found between the number of neuron bodies in the ganglia of infected and control dogs.