"Biology of Trypanosoma cruzi" ed. by Wanderley De Souza

This volume includes basic biological information on the protozoan lifecycle, including new information on parasite genomics and proteomics, they analyze the interaction with host cells as well the immune response and evasion, ending with information on experimental chemotherapy against Chagas disease.

Trypanosoma cruzi, an important zoonotic protozoan that causes Chagas disease, affects at least 8 million people in Latin America. 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.
In addition to its medical importance, 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;
(3) evasion from the immune system, using several mechanisms.
This book, with 13 chapters, has been organized in four major sections: 1. "Basic Biology," 2. "Biochemistry and Molecular Biology," 3. "Parasite"Host Cell Interaction," and 4 "Chemotherapy."


Contents
1.Introductory Chapter: Biology of Trypanosoma cruzi
2.Life Cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi in the Invertebrate and the Vertebrate Hosts
3.Cell Culture and Maintenance of the Evolutionary Forms of Trypanosoma cruzi for Studies of Parasitic Biology
4.Amazonian Reservoir Hosts of Trypanosoma cruzi
5.Role of Proteomics in the Study of Trypanosoma cruzi Biology
6.Biology of the Trypanosoma cruzi Genome
7.l-arginine Metabolism in the Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi
8.The Journey of Trypanosoma cruzi under the Redox Baton
9.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 These Processes
10.Possible Role of Gap Junction Channels and Non-Junctional Channels in the Infection Caused by Trypanosoma cruzi
11.Trypanosoma cruzi Infection: Mechanisms of Evasion of Immune Response
12.Fish Oil and Inflammation: A Perspective on the Challenges of Evaluating Efficacy in Trypanosoma cruzi Infection
13.Parasite, Compartments, and Molecules: Trick versus Treatment on Chagas Disease