Intensification of acute Trypanosoma cruzi myocarditis in BALB/c mice pretreated with low doses of cyclophosphamide or gamma irradiation.

This study was carried out to examine the development of acute myocarditis in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected BALB/c mice after they were treated with low doses of cylophosphamide or gamma irradiation. It has been claimed that, in mice, such treatments temporarily interfere with the host-immune suppressor network, but cause no immunodepression. A severe extensive and diffuse acute myocarditis developed in the treated mice infected with T. cruzi, whereas a slight to moderate focal or occasionally diffuse acute myocarditis developed in control mice infected with T. cruzi. It is very likely that the transient abolition of T-suppressor activity facilitates the anti-myocardium immune response in the acute phase of experimental Chagas' disease in mice.