Santos, Elda Gonçalves dosGonçalves, Reggiani VilelaSilva, Thaiany Goulart de Souza eMaldonado, Izabel Regina dos Santos CostaSantos, Eliziária Cardoso dosSilva, André Talvani Pedrosa daNatali, Antônio JoséNovaes, Rômulo Dias2020-03-062020-03-062019SANTOS, E. D. Could pre-infection exercise training improve the efficacy of specific antiparasitic chemotherapy for Chagas disease?. Parasitology, v. 146, n. 13, p. 1655-1664, ago. 2019. Disponível em: <https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/parasitology/article/could-preinfection-exercise-training-improve-the-efficacy-of-specific-antiparasitic-chemotherapy-for-chagas-disease/AB1B968B3C658DB1A7C99688511182FB>. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2020.1469-8161http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/handle/123456789/11971Considering a potential exercise-drug interaction, we investigated whether exercise training could improve the efficacy of specific antiparasitic chemotherapy in a rodent model of Chagas disease. Wistar rats were randomized into five groups: sedentary and uninfected (CT); sedentary and infected (SI); sedentary, infected and treated (SIT); trained and infected (TI); trained, infected and treated (TIT). After 9-weeks running training, the animals were infected with T. cruzi and followed up for 4 weeks, receiving 100 mg kg−1 day−1 benznidazole. No evidence of myocarditis was observed in CT animals. TI animals exhibited reduced parasitemia, myocarditis, and reactive tissue damage compared to SI animals, in addition to increased IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10, heart non-protein antioxidant (NPA) levels and glutathione-s transferase activity (P < 0.05). The CT, SIT and TIT groups presented similar reductions in parasitemia, cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-10, IL-17 and MCP-1), inflammatory infiltrate, oxidative heart damage and antioxidant enzymes activity compared to SI and TI animals, as well as reduced heart microstructural remodeling (P < 0.05). By modulating heart inflammation and redox metabolism, exercise training exerts a protective effect against T. cruzi infection in rats. However, the antiparasitic and cardioprotective effects of benznidazole chemotherapy are more pronounced, determining similar endpoints in sedentary and trained T. cruzi-infected rats.en-USrestritoCardiovascular pathologyComplementary therapyOxidative stressTrypanosoma cruziArtigo publicado em periodicohttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/parasitology/article/could-preinfection-exercise-training-improve-the-efficacy-of-specific-antiparasitic-chemotherapy-for-chagas-disease/AB1B968B3C658DB1A7C99688511182FBhttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182019000970