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## Meet the editor

Wanderley de Souza was born in Bahia State, Brazil. He graduated in Medicine in 1974 and obtained his MSc and PhD at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in 1976 and 1978, respectively. He is Professor of Cell Biology and Parasitology. He occupied several administrative positions as Rector of Rio de Janeiro North State University, Secretary for Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro State, and Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of

Brazil. He is a member of several scientific societies as well as academies of science and medicine. He is also a member of the editorial board of several international journals in the area of parasitology. He has published more than 600 scientific papers and 100 articles in many prestigious Brazilian newspapers.

Contents

**Section 1**

*by Wanderley de Souza*

*by Kenechukwu C. Onyekwelu*

for Studies of Parasitic Biology

*and Marcelo Sousa Silva*

**Section 2**

**Preface III**

Basic Biology **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 9**

**Chapter 3 29** Cell Culture and Maintenance of the Evolutionary Forms of *Trypanosoma cruzi*

**Chapter 4 37**

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology **53**

**Chapter 5 55**

**Chapter 6 81**

**Chapter 7 97**

*by Luisa Berná, Sebastián Pita, María Laura Chiribao, Adriana Parodi-Talice,* 

Life Cycle of *Trypanosoma cruzi* in the Invertebrate and the Vertebrate Hosts

*Joice Castelo Branco, Laura Araújo, Aline Maria Queiroz, Sílvia Tavares Donato,* 

*by Cláudia Jassica Gonçalves Moreno, Johny Wysllas de Freitas Oliveira,* 

*Nilton José da Silva Júnior, Emilly Thays da Silva Rodrigues* 

*by Jocelyn Ginette Pérez Lazo, Pedro Mayor and Andrés G. Lescano*

Role of Proteomics in the Study of *Trypanosoma cruzi* Biology *by Juan San Francisco, Bessy Gutiérrez and Jorge González*

l-arginine Metabolism in the Infection with *Trypanosoma cruzi by Laila Gutiérrez-Kobeh and Arturo A. Wilkins-Rodríguez*

Amazonian Reservoir Hosts of *Trypanosoma cruzi*

Biology of the *Trypanosoma cruzi* Genome

*Fernando Alvarez-Valin and Carlos Robello*

Introductory Chapter: Biology of *Trypanosoma cruzi*

### Contents



Preface

Chagas disease is an important life-long infection in humans that can be divided into distinct clinical stages: the acute phase, where patient symptoms can vary from asymptomatic to severe; the indeterminate form, which is usually asymptomatic; and the chronic phase, where cardiomyopathy and/or digestive megasyndromes appear. It is caused by the intracellular parasitic protozoan *Trypanosoma cruzi*, the major focus of this book. There are two major reasons for significant interest in the study of this protozoan and the disease it causes. First, in Latin America, at least 8 million people are infected with *T. cruzi* and 13,000 die each year. In addition, migration patterns are driving the globalization of the disease and there are around 300,000 and 120,000 people infected in the USA and Europe, respectively. Second, *T. cruzi* is an interesting biological model for studying processes such as: (1) cell differentiation, where a non-infective stage transforms into an infective one; (2) cell invasion, where the infective stages are able to penetrate into a mammalian host cell, where they multiply several times and thus amplify the infection;

and (3) evasion from the immune system, using several mechanisms.

data on experimental chemotherapy.

Taking into consideration the importance of and interest in *T. cruzi* and Chagas disease, this book is organized in four sections. Section 1 deals with the basic aspects of the protozoan biology with an overview of the lifecycle of the parasite in invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, as well as the various developmental states of *T. cruzi* maintained in the laboratory. Available information on the reservoir host of *T. cruzi* in the Amazon rainforest is also discussed. Section 2 deals with basic biochemical data on the parasite, including proteomic and genomic data presently available for various *T. cruzi* developmental stages. Section 3 deals with the interaction of the parasite with the host, covering topics such as entry of the parasite into host cells and mechanisms involved in evasion of the immune response. Section 4 comprises

**Wanderley de Souza MD, PhD**

Brazil

Professor of Cell Biology and Parasitology at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho,

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,

## Preface

Chagas disease is an important life-long infection in humans that can be divided into distinct clinical stages: the acute phase, where patient symptoms can vary from asymptomatic to severe; the indeterminate form, which is usually asymptomatic; and the chronic phase, where cardiomyopathy and/or digestive megasyndromes appear. It is caused by the intracellular parasitic protozoan *Trypanosoma cruzi*, the major focus of this book. There are two major reasons for significant interest in the study of this protozoan and the disease it causes. First, in Latin America, at least 8 million people are infected with *T. cruzi* and 13,000 die each year. In addition, migration patterns are driving the globalization of the disease and there are around 300,000 and 120,000 people infected in the USA and Europe, respectively. Second, *T. cruzi* is an interesting biological model for studying processes such as: (1) cell differentiation, where a non-infective stage transforms into an infective one; (2) cell invasion, where the infective stages are able to penetrate into a mammalian host cell, where they multiply several times and thus amplify the infection; and (3) evasion from the immune system, using several mechanisms.

Taking into consideration the importance of and interest in *T. cruzi* and Chagas disease, this book is organized in four sections. Section 1 deals with the basic aspects of the protozoan biology with an overview of the lifecycle of the parasite in invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, as well as the various developmental states of *T. cruzi* maintained in the laboratory. Available information on the reservoir host of *T. cruzi* in the Amazon rainforest is also discussed. Section 2 deals with basic biochemical data on the parasite, including proteomic and genomic data presently available for various *T. cruzi* developmental stages. Section 3 deals with the interaction of the parasite with the host, covering topics such as entry of the parasite into host cells and mechanisms involved in evasion of the immune response. Section 4 comprises data on experimental chemotherapy.

**II**

**Chapter 8 107**

Parasite Host Cell Interaction **117**

**Chapter 9 119**

**Chapter 10 141**

**Chapter 11 153**

Chemotherapy **175**

**Chapter 12 177**

**Chapter 13 193**

*by Marcos André Vannier-Santos, Giselle V. Brunoro, Maria de Nazaré C. Soeiro,* 

How Does the Main Infective Stage of *T. cruzi* Enter and Avoid Degradation in Host Cells? A Description of the Pathways and Organelles Involved on

Possible Role of Gap Junction Channels and Non-Junctional Channels in the

*Trypanosoma cruzi* Infection: Mechanisms of Evasion of Immune Response

Fish Oil and Inflammation: A Perspective on the Challenges of Evaluating

*by Maria Isabel Lovo-Martins, Marli Cardoso Martins-Pinge* 

*Solange L. DeCastro and Rubem F.S. Menna-Barreto*

Parasite, Compartments, and Molecules: Trick versus Treatment on

The Journey of *Trypanosoma cruzi* under the Redox Baton

*by Emile Barrias, Lissa C. Reignault and Wanderley de Souza*

*by José Luis Vega, Camilo Juyumaya, Luis Rodríguez, Juan Güiza,* 

Infection Caused by *Trypanosoma cruzi*

Efficacy in *Trypanosoma cruzi* Infection

*and Phileno Pinge-Filho*

Chagas Disease

*Camila Gutíerrez, Iván Barría and Juan C. Sáez*

*by Alondra Cruz Reyes and José Luis Rosales Encina*

*by Marcia Cristina Paes*

**Section 3**

These Processes

**Section 4**

**Wanderley de Souza MD, PhD**

Professor of Cell Biology and Parasitology at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

**1**

Section 1

Basic Biology
