Chronic Chagasic Cardiomyopathy: Influence of Physical Exercise

Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy results from infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by triatomine insects. The disease, endemic in Latin America, affects millions of individuals worldwide. In recent decades, the increase in migration has elevated the number of infected people in non-endemic regions from Europe and the United States. Chagas disease remains a neglected disease, characterized by difficulty in early diagnosis and poorly understood pathogenesis.

T. cruzi infects cardiomyocytes, immune cells, and fibroblasts, activating an inflammatory response that can reduce the parasite load and cause the death of infected cells. The parasite induces the production of chemokines and cytokines that increase the microbicidal capacity of macrophages and stimulate nitric oxide synthases and the production of reactive oxygen species. CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes also participate in the inflammatory response with the production of IFN-γ and degranulation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes that lysis compromised cells.

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