Mast cell-nerve interaction in the colon of Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals with chagasic megacolon

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 117; no. 4; pp. 1147 - 1158
• Main Authors: Martins, Patrícia Rocha, Nascimento, Rodolfo Duarte, dos Santos, Aline Tomaz, de Oliveira, Enio Chaves, Martinelli, Patricia Massara, d’Avila Reis, Débora
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-04-2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell interactions; Chagas disease; Chymase; Colon; Denervation; Enteric nervous system; Health aspects; Immune system; Immunology; Inflammation; Mast cells; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Nervous system; Original Paper; Physiological aspects; Protozoa; Trypanosoma cruzi; Trypanosomiasis; Tryptase; Enteric nervous system; Neuroimmune interaction; Chagasic megacolon; PAR2; Tryptase and chymase mast cells
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-018-5792-z

Chagas disease is an infection caused by the parasite
Trypanosoma cruzi
that affects millions of people worldwide and is endemic in Latin America. Megacolon is the most frequent complication of the digestive chronic form and happens due to lesions of the enteric nervous system. The neuronal lesions seem to initiate in the acute phase and persist during the chronic phase, albeit the mechanisms involved in this process are still debated. Among the cells of the immune system possibly involved in this pathological process is the mast cell (MC) due to its well-known role in the bi-directional communication between the immune and nervous systems. Using ultrastructural analysis, we found an increased number of degranulated MCs in close proximity to nerve fibers in infected patients when compared with uninfected controls. We also immunostained MCs for the two pro-inflammatory molecules tryptase and chymase, the first being also important in neuronal death. The number of MCs immunostained for tryptase or chymase was increased in patients with megacolon, whereas increased tryptase staining was additionally observed in patients without megacolon. Moreover, we detected the expression of the tryptase receptor PAR2 in neurons of the enteric nervous system, which correlated to the tryptase staining results. Altogether, the data presented herein point to the participation of MCs on the denervation process that occurs in the development of
T. cruzi
-induced megacolon.