ANTIPARASITIC EFFECT AND BEHAVIORAL REESTABLISHMENT IN MICE TREATED WITH CLOMIPRAMINE

LO PRESTI MS ; STRAUSS M; CARLINI V; RIVAROLA HW

Córdoba

Jornada; XXI Jornadas Sociedad de Biología de Córdoba; 2017

Sociedad de Biología de Córdoba

The research for new therapeutic agents was proposed due to the limitations of the current treatment for the American trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. Clomipramine (Clo) is a tricyclic antidepressant that has shown efficacy in experimental models as antiparasitic, but could modify some behavioral patterns. In addition, behavioral changes due to infection have been observed in experimental models and, less significant, in humans. For this reason, we proposed to evaluate the effect of Clo upon anxiety-related behaviors. Male Swiss Albino mice were grouped as follow: uninfected mice (NI): NI+Vehicle; NI+Clo5mg/kg/day and NI+Clo1,25mg/kg/day (n=10) and mice infected with 50 trypomastigotes of T. cruzi Y strain (INF): INF+Vehicle; INF+Clo5mg/kg/day and INF+Clo1.25mg/kg/day (n=15). The treatment was administered orally for 30 days and anxiety-like behavior was evaluated in Plus Maze test. The efficacy of the treatment was measured through parasitemia (qPCR) and survival. The results were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple comparisons by Fisher´s test. In relation to survival and parasitemia, the INF+Clo5mg/kg/day and INF+Clo1.25mg/kg/day groups presented significant differences with the INF+Vehicle group (p