The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans
Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal agent of Chagas disease, a parasitic zoonosis transmitted mainly through the feces of triatomine insects. Triatoma infestans is the main triatomine vector of this disease in South America. Previous research has shown that T. cruzi infection modifies the behavior of tr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9143535/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35630447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10051003 |
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author | Chacón, Francisco Bacigalupo, Antonella Álvarez-Duhart, Bárbara Cattan, Pedro E. Solís, Rigoberto Muñoz-San Martín, Catalina |
author_facet | Chacón, Francisco Bacigalupo, Antonella Álvarez-Duhart, Bárbara Cattan, Pedro E. Solís, Rigoberto Muñoz-San Martín, Catalina |
author_sort | Chacón, Francisco |
collection | PubMed |
description | Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal agent of Chagas disease, a parasitic zoonosis transmitted mainly through the feces of triatomine insects. Triatoma infestans is the main triatomine vector of this disease in South America. Previous research has shown that T. cruzi infection modifies the behavior of triatomines. We evaluated, for the first time, the effect of parasite load on feeding and defecation behavior, which we quantified by using real-time PCR. The detection time of the host was shorter in infected individuals, and the number of bites increased, while the dejection time was reduced when compared with the non-infected group. A significant correlation between the parasite load and the behavioral changes registered in the infected triatomines was found. These results would indicate that the intensity of T. cruzi infection modulates the feeding and defecation behavior of T. infestans, increasing the vector competence of this triatomine vector. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9143535 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91435352022-05-29 The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans Chacón, Francisco Bacigalupo, Antonella Álvarez-Duhart, Bárbara Cattan, Pedro E. Solís, Rigoberto Muñoz-San Martín, Catalina Microorganisms Article Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal agent of Chagas disease, a parasitic zoonosis transmitted mainly through the feces of triatomine insects. Triatoma infestans is the main triatomine vector of this disease in South America. Previous research has shown that T. cruzi infection modifies the behavior of triatomines. We evaluated, for the first time, the effect of parasite load on feeding and defecation behavior, which we quantified by using real-time PCR. The detection time of the host was shorter in infected individuals, and the number of bites increased, while the dejection time was reduced when compared with the non-infected group. A significant correlation between the parasite load and the behavioral changes registered in the infected triatomines was found. These results would indicate that the intensity of T. cruzi infection modulates the feeding and defecation behavior of T. infestans, increasing the vector competence of this triatomine vector. MDPI 2022-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9143535/ /pubmed/35630447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10051003 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Chacón, Francisco Bacigalupo, Antonella Álvarez-Duhart, Bárbara Cattan, Pedro E. Solís, Rigoberto Muñoz-San Martín, Catalina The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title | The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title_full | The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title_fullStr | The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title_full_unstemmed | The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title_short | The Parasite Load of Trypanosoma cruzi Modulates Feeding and Defecation Patterns of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans |
title_sort | parasite load of trypanosoma cruzi modulates feeding and defecation patterns of the chagas disease vector triatoma infestans |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9143535/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35630447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10051003 |
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