Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease

The existence of the nervous form of Chagas disease is a matter of discussion since Carlos Chagas described neurological disorders, learning and behavioural alterations in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals. In most patients, the clinical manifestations of the acute phase, including neurological abnormalities, resolve spontaneously without apparent consequence in the chronic phase of infection. However, chronic Chagas disease patients have behavioural changes such as psychomotor alterations, attention and memory deficits, and depression. In the present study, we tested whether or not behavioural alterations are reproducible in experimental models. We show that C57BL/6 mice chronically infected with the Colombian strain of T. cruzi (150 days post-infection) exhibit behavioural changes as (i) depression in the tail suspension and forced swim tests, (ii) anxiety analysed by elevated plus maze and open field test sand and (iii) motor coordination in the rotarod test. These alterations are neither associated with neuromuscular disorders assessed by the grip strength test nor with sickness behaviour analysed by temperature variation sand weight loss. Therefore, chronically T. cruzi-infected mice replicate behavioural alterations (depression and anxiety) detected in Chagas disease patients opening an opportunity to study the interconnection and the physiopathology of these two biological processes in an infectious scenario.

Plasma inflammatory biomarkers response to aerobic versus resisted exercise training for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a main risk for morbidity, associated with alterations in systemic inflammation. Recent studies proved that morbidity and mortality of COPD is related to systemic inflammation as it contributes to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. However, increase of inflammatory cytokines adversely affects quality of life, alteration in ventilatory and skeletal muscles functions. Moreover, exercise training has many beneficial effects in correction of the adverse effects of COPD. Objective: This study aimed to compare the response of inflammatory cytokines of COPD to aerobic versus resisted exercises. Materials and methods: One hundred COPD diseased patients participated in this study and were randomly included in two groups; the first group received aerobic exercise, whereas the second group received resisted exercise training for 12 weeks. Results: The mean values of TNF-α, Il-2, IL-4, IL-6 and CRP were significantly decreased in both groups. Also; there was a significant difference between both groups at the end of the study with more reduction in patients who received aerobic exercise training. Conclusion: Aerobic exercise is more appropriate than resisted exercise training in modulating inflammatory cytokines level in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.