Although cardiac dysautonomia is a distinctive feature of Chagas disease, its clinical and functional significance is still being speculated. Neurotrophic factors are potentially involved; however, studies of their effect in this infection are rare. Ultrastructural abnormalities in autonomic varicosities, levels of both nerve growth factor (NGF), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as well as the expression of their receptors, were analysed in the heart of a rat model of Trypanosoma infection. Predominantly, at the early stage of the infection, cardiac autonomic varicosities displayed several signs of degeneration parallel to the elevation of cardiac levels of NGF, as well as expression of the receptors TrkA and p75NTR. For BDNF and TrkB, the changes were less conspicuous. Data obtained here can contribute to further clarify the factors related to the autonomic nervous system’s adaptive changes that could determine the evolution of different clinical forms of Chagas disease; mainly, the cardiac form.

尽管心律不齐是恰加斯病的一个显着特征，但其临床和功能意义仍在推测中。可能涉及神经营养因子；然而，关于它们在这种感染中作用的研究很少。在锥虫病大鼠模型的心脏中分析了自主神经静脉曲张的超微结构异常，神经生长因子（NGF）和脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）的水平及其受体的表达感染。主要地，在感染的早期，心脏自主神经静脉曲张显示出与心脏NGF水平升高以及受体TrkA和p75NTR的表达平行的几个变性迹象。对于BDNF和TrkB，变化不太明显。此处获得的数据有助于进一步阐明与自主神经系统适应性变化有关的因素，这些因素可以决定南美锥虫病不同临床形式的演变。主要是心脏形式。