ICR mice were significantly more susceptible to T. cruzi H1 infection than BALB/c mice, developing more severe cardiac disease characterized by significant ECG and ECHO alterations over 210 days.
Both ICR and BALB/c mice are suitable experimental models for studying chronic T. cruzi infection and evaluating novel treatments for Chagas cardiomyopathy.
p-value: p=0.0003
Chagas disease by Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infection is a leading cause of myocarditis worldwide. Chagas cardiomyopathy is presented with a wide variety of conduction abnormalities including arrhythmias, first- and second-degree atrioventricular blockade, left ventricular systolic dysfunction and some cases heart failure leading to the death. Currently, there are no effective treatments available against advanced Chagas disease. With the advance in the development of novel therapies, it is important to utilize an animal model that can effectively replicate the diverse stages of Chagas disease, including chronic asymptomatic and symptomatic infection, that are akin to those observed in humans. Therefore, to characterize the cardiac alterations during the evolution of the infection, we evaluated the progression of cardiomyopathy caused by T. cruzi H1 infection in both BALB/c and ICR mouse models by performing electrocardiogram (ECG) studies in unanesthetized mice every month until 210 days post-infection (dpi). In the late chronic phase of infection, we also performed echocardiogram (ECHO) studies to further assess cardiac function. In conclusion, we demonstrated that ICR mice were more susceptible to cardiac alterations compared to BALB/c mice and both mouse strains are suitable experimental models to study chronic T. cruzi infection and novel treatments.
Arias-Argáez et al. (2023) studied Trypanosoma cruzi infection (Chagas disease) (n=32). Trypanosoma cruzi H1 strain infection vs. Non-infected mice (saline solution) was evaluated on Cardiac alterations (ECG and ECHO patterns) (p=0.0003). ICR mice were significantly more susceptible to T. cruzi H1 infection than BALB/c mice, developing more severe cardiac disease characterized by significant ECG and ECHO alterations over 210 days.