Immunological studies in Rockland mice infected with T. cruzi. Development of antinuclear antibodies.

The existence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and their relationship with anti-Trypanosoma cruzi specific agglutinins was studied in Rockland mice inoculated with 10(5), 10(4) or 10(3) epimastigotes and 2 X 10(5) trypomastigotes of T. cruzi. ANA and anti-T. cruzi agglutinins were detected at the same time in groups of mice receiving 10(5) culture forms, while in those groups of mice receiving 10(4) parasites agglutinins were established earlier than ANA which were present only at low titres. Positive serology and ANA were also detected in mice infected with trypomastigotes. Neither specific agglutinins nor ANA were found in groups of mice receiving 10(3) parasites probably because the number of parasites inoculated was too low to infect them. ANA were not found in not infected mice. ANA induced in mice by T. cruzi infection seem to be related to the amount of parasites inoculated and thus with the degree of the subsequent infection. Immunopathologic studies carried out in mice infected with trypomastigotes showed the presence of nodular deposits of gamma globulin in the kidneys, suggesting the possibility of an immune complex disease : the light and electron microscopic studies of the kidneys showed in the glomeruli an increase of the mesangium, hypercellularity and thickened basement membranes.