Heart histopathology, morphometric analysis and parasitism in BALB/c mice infected with JG and/or CL Brener.

<p>HE-stained representative myocardial sections from mice infected with 100 trypomastigotes of JG or CL Brener (single infection) or coinfected with 100 trypomastigotes of both <i>T. cruzi</i> populations in a 1∶1 ratio via the intraperitoneal route were collected at 21 days p.i. (A–D) and were histopathologically analyzed in original magnifications of 10× or 40× (details). Total number of parasite nests (E) and nucleus area quantification (cellularity) were assessed using computer-aided morphometry (F), Symbols as follows: A or white bar: Naïve mice; B or light gray bar: JG infected mice; C or black bar: CL Brener infected mice; and D or dark gray bar: JG and CL Brener infected mice. ^aRepresents number of parasite nests counted in three semi-consecutive sections. Values are expressed as the mean ± SEM of three mice per group (representative of two independent experiments). *, † and ‡ represent <i>P</i><0.05 when compared with naïve, JG and CL Brener mice groups, respectively.