Dentistry Commons^™

Aspirin Treatment Of Mice Infected With Trypanosoma Cruzi And Implications For The Pathogenesis Of Chagas Disease, Shankar Mukherjee, Fabiana S. Machado, Huang Huang, Helieh S. Oz, Linda A. Jelicks, Cibele M. Prado, Wade Koba, Eugene J. Fine, Dazhi Zhao, Stephen M. Factor, J. Elias Collado, Louis M. Weiss, Herbert B. Tanowitz, Anthony W. Ashton

Center for Oral Health Research Faculty Publications

Chagas disease, caused by infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important cause of cardiovascular disease. It is increasingly clear that parasite-derived prostaglandins potently modulate host response and disease progression. Here, we report that treatment of experimental T. cruzi infection (Brazil strain) beginning 5 days post infection (dpi) with aspirin (ASA) increased mortality (2-fold) and parasitemia (12-fold). However, there were no differences regarding histopathology or cardiac structure or function. Delayed treatment with ASA (20 mg/kg) beginning 60 dpi did not increase parasitemia or mortality but improved ejection fraction. ASA treatment diminished the profile of parasite- and host-derived circulating prostaglandins in infected …