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immunology of infectious and parasitic diseases - XXXVII Congress ...

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BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PENTOXIFYLLINE ON CARDIAC AND IMMUNE<br />

TRAITS OF EXPERIMENTAL CHRONIC CHAGASIC CARDIOMYOPATHY<br />

ISABELA RESENDE PEREIRA¹, GLAUCIA VILAR-PEREIRA¹, JOSELI<br />

LANNES-VIEIRA¹.<br />

¹Laboratório de Biologia das Interações, IOC–Fiocruz, RJ, Brasil;<br />

Introduction: Trypanosoma cruzi infection results in chronic Chagas<br />

cardiomyopathy (CCC) in about 30-40% <strong>of</strong> the infected individuals. CCC is<br />

characterized by prominent inflammation associated with fibrosis <strong>and</strong> electrical<br />

dysfunction. In the affected cardiac tissue, production <strong>of</strong> inflammatory<br />

mediators, chiefly pro-inflammatory cytokines <strong>and</strong> chemokines, might drive<br />

leukocyte migration contributing to CCC. Methods <strong>and</strong> Results: We tested the<br />

effect <strong>of</strong> pentoxifylline (PTX), a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, that also acts as an<br />

immunoregulator, upon immune response <strong>and</strong> heart dysfunction in C57BL/6<br />

mice chronically infected with the Colombian strain <strong>of</strong> T. cruzi. PTX therapy did<br />

not alter the survival <strong>and</strong> parasite load, however improved cardiac function,<br />

reducing fibronectin (FN) deposition (13.5 ± 3.0% <strong>of</strong> FN positive area in salineinjected<br />

vs 6.9 ± 1.7% <strong>of</strong> FN positive area in PTX-treated mice, p

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