Efeitos protetivos da theracurmin frente às alterações testiculares induzidas pela infecção experimental por Trypanosoma cruzi

Abstract

Chagas’ disease is a tropical neglected illness caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and remains one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality in South and Central Americas. The disease is caused by a moderate to intense and persistent inflammatory response characterized by local upregulated expression and production of inflammatory mediators that favors the activation and recruitment of distinct cells of the immune system into different tissues to eliminate the parasites. Muscular tissue, cardiac and skeletal, and tissues of the gastric system are mostly common to be studied as a regular tissue tropism of the T. cruzi, but the protozoan can infect and cause an inflammatory response in several systems on its host, such as the reproductive system. Theracurmin is a curcumin’s derived formulation of nanoparticles. Its anti-inflammatory properties make this bioactive compound a mitigating factor in pathological cases after an overwhelming inflammatory response. Our research focused on the testicular investigation in 28 mice infected by 103 trypomastigote forms of Colombian strain of T. cruzi and treated with Theracurmin. These animals were grouped as: uninfected, uninfected + Theracurmin, T. cruzi, and T. cruzi + Theracurmin. The mice were treated with 30 mg/Kg of Theracurmin during the period of 30 days and parasitemia was evaluated daily. At the 30th day post infection animals were euthanized, and its testicles were collected to morphological and immunological assays. The animals infected and treated with Theracurmin presented a reduction in the parasitemia and in the testicular levels of IL-15 and IL-6. The luminal diameter and area increased in the presence of the protozoan resulting in a different seminiferous tubules/epithelial relation between the uninfected and the T. cruzi group. The volume of the tunica propria are also higher in all infected animals, but Theracurmin decreased this parameter in the T. cruzi + Theracurmin group when compared to the T. cruzi group. In the intertubular area, the percentage of the intertubule was decreased in the infected animals, in comparison to those without the protozoan infection, such as the percentage and volume of Leydig cells, connective tissue, and macrophages. Furthermore, our data pointed to the daily use of Theracurmin in the diet as a protective element of the testicular area.