"Trypanosoma cruzi" : variation in susceptibility of inbred strains of rats

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Eight strains of male rats (AUG, BN, LEW, LIS, WAG, F 344, LOU/M, DA) and 3 strains of female rats (LEW, F 344, KGH) were challenged with 15 X 10(4) trypomastigotes of the Tehuantepec strain of T. cruzi. Parasitemia and mortality were observed for 60 days. Varying degrees of susceptibility were demonstrated between strains: complete resistance (R), no parasitemia; low resistance (LR), mild parasitemia; and no resistance (NR), high parasitemia. The differences in susceptibility to T. cruzi, using inbred strains of rats, were unrelated to Rt-1 haplotype. However, the level of parasitemia and host survival are not necessarily related; both male and female F 344 hosts are susceptible (NR) to T. cruzi but only females survive.