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Journal of Medical Microbiology logo Journal of Medical Microbiology

Volume 74, Issue 11

infection-induced changes in cardiac microvascular endothelial cell morphology and function Open Access

Abstract

Six to seven million individuals are infected with , the causative agent of Chagas disease. With 12,000 deaths annually, chronic Chagas disease remains a significant global health challenge due to persistent vector transmission, increasing non-vector transmission and limited therapeutic options. Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Since its initial description more than 100 years ago, research efforts into the cardiomyopathy found in chronic Chagas disease have primarily focused on the contributions of immune cells, cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts, leaving a significant gap in understanding the role of microvascular endothelial dysfunction in disease progression.

The aim of this study was to identify any morphological or functional changes to cardiac microvascular endothelial cells induced by infection with the potential to contribute to the pathologies found in chronic Chagas disease.

We cultured primary cardiac microvascular endothelial cell monolayers and infected them with trypomastigotes or exposed them to conditioned media collected from control or infected endothelial cells. Cells were analysed for changes in morphology and proliferation, by wound healing assays for measurements of migratory capacity and by tube-forming assay to characterize their ability to form capillary-like structures.

We show that infection leads to the development of hypertrophic multinuclear cells, inhibits endothelial proliferation, increases endothelial migration and results in changes in several aspects of angiogenesis.

We present data to demonstrate morphological and functional changes in cardiac endothelial cells that occur as a result of infection and propose that these changes may contribute to endothelial dysfunction and the development of chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): cardiac , Chagas , dysfunction , endothelial , microvascular and Trypanosoma
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • LSUHSC (Award Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology)
    • Principal Award Recipient: NotApplicable
  • National Institute of Health, NIGMS (Award P30GM106392)
    • Principal Award Recipient: DouglasA. Johnston
© 2025 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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2025-11-13
2025-12-09

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/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.002095
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Trypanosoma cruzi infection-induced changes in cardiac microvascular endothelial cell morphology and function
J. Med. Microbiol. 74, 002095 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.002095
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.002095
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.002095
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