CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

BNZ nanoparticles Following the methodology of nanoprecipitation, small particles of about 63.3 ± 2.82 nm, with zeta potential of -18.30 ± 1.0, and a size distribution (polydispersity index) of 3.35 ± 0.1 were obtained.Course of infection.To determine whether BNZ nanoformulations treatments affect the course of infection and survival rate of C3H/HeN mice, such nanoparticles were orally administered at 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg/d and compared with raw BNZ (R-BNZ) at a dose of 50 mg/kg/d. All infected mice treated with BNZ, no matter whether nanoparticle-formulated or raw BNZ, survived until the end of the experiment (92days p.i.). On the other hand, only 15% of the non-treated infected mice survived.Humoral immune responses specific for T. cruzi following chemotherapy.All mice treated with BNZ-nps at 25 mg/kg/day showed a decrease to T. cruzi-specific antibodies compared to titers of infected control mice. In particular, no antibodies could be detected in 50% of the animals at 3 months and 100 % at 6 months. With BNZ-nps applied at 50 mg/kg/day all mice displayed negative titers in T. cruzi-specific antibodies at 3 months post-infection.HistopathologyAs expected, the myocardium of untreated infected mice showed extensive and multiple inflammatory foci of mononuclear cell infiltrates and some necrotic areas with structural alterations and fibrotic foci. Parasite nests were absent in heart tissues of mice that survived the acute stage. TcN-infected mice treated with raw BNZ (50 mg/kg/d) exhibited similar inflammatory damage than the untreated infected group. In contrast, a significant decrease of inflammatory cells in heart tissue was observed after treatment withBNZ-nps at a dosage of 25 and 50 mg/kg/d.