BENEFICIAL-EFFECTS OF GANGLIOSIDES ON THE NATURAL-HISTORY OF ACUTE CHAGASIC MYOCARDITIS IN RATS

This study was designed to investigate the effects of ganglioside trea tment on acutely Trypanosoma cruzi-infected rats with emphasis on the heart. Newly weaned Wistar rats were infected with T. cruzi (Colombian strain, 50,000 parasites/kg body weight injected intraperitoneally). Two groups of 25 infected rats received daily injections of saline or ganglioside (10 mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally between the 14th and 30th days after infection. Two groups of 10 noninfected rats were similarly treated. On day 31, all surviving rats were killed. Hearts w ere collected for histopathology and norepinephrine assay. An arbitrar y score for myocardial microscopic lesions was used to characterize ea ch heart wall. Mortality was recorded throughout the experimental peri od. Seven of 25 (28%) ganglioside-treated and 14 of 25 (56%) saline-tr eated rats died spontaneously (p = 0.02). The histological score was 5 .4 +/- 3.2 for ganglioside-treated and 7.9 +/- 3.0 for saline-treated rats (p < 0.05). No difference was detected in myocardial norepinephri ne content. Thus, ganglioside treatment decreases mortality and myocar dial inflammation in acute chagasic myocarditis in rats.