Key result
Both TcI and TcII Trypanosoma cruzi variants attach to cardiac tissue in a preclinical zebrafish model.
Why the study?
Parasite attachment dynamics of Trypanosoma cruzi genotypic variants TcI and TcII remain unclear, limiting understanding of tissue involvement in Chagas disease.
Both TcI and TcII variants of Trypanosoma cruzi demonstrate cardiac tissue attachment in a zebrafish model, challenging the notion that TcII is solely associated with digestive tract involvement.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Questions TcII digestive exclusivity in zebrafish; hypothesis-generating for cardiac Chagas tropism and requires mammalian validation.
Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, is a parasite known for its diverse genotypic variants, or Discrete Typing Units (DTUs), which have been associated with varying degrees of tissue involvement. However, aspects such as parasite attachment remain unclear. It has been suggested that the TcI genotype is associated with cardiac infection, the most common involved site in chronic human infection, while TcII is associated with digestive tract involvement. Traditional models for T. cruzi infection provide limited in vivo observation, making it challenging to observe the dynamics of parasite-host interactions. This study evaluates the cardiac attachment of trypomastigotes from TcI and TcII DTUs in zebrafish larvae. Labeled trypomastigotes were injected in the duct of Cuvier of zebrafish larvae and tracked by stereomicroscopy and light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM). Remarkably, it was possible to observe TcI parasites adhered to the atrium, atrioventricular valve, and circulatory system, while TcII trypomastigotes demonstrated adhesion to the atrium, atrioventricular valve, and yolk sac extension. When TcI and TcII were simultaneously injected, they both attached to the heart; however, more of the TcII trypomastigotes were observed attached to this organ. Although TcII DTU has previously been associated with digestive tissue infection, both parasite variants showed cardiac tissue attachment in this in vivo model.
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Rodriguez-Castellanos et al. (2025) studied Trypanosoma cruzi infection (n=178). Trypanosoma cruzi TcI and TcII trypomastigotes vs. 1x PBS was evaluated on Cardiac tissue attachment. Both TcI and TcII variants of Trypanosoma cruzi demonstrated attachment to cardiac tissue in a zebrafish model, occurring in 35% and 39% of larvae with observed organ migration, respectively.
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