Correlation between Presence of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in Heart Tissue of Baboons and Cynomolgus Monkeys, and Lymphocytic Myocarditis

Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi , the causative agent of Chagas' disease, preferentially infects cardiac and digestive tissues. Baboons living in Texas ( Papio hamadryas ) and cynomolgus monkeys ( Macaca fasciculari s) have been reported to be infected naturally with T. cruzi . In this study, we retrospectively reviewed cases of animals that were diagnosed with lymphocytic myocarditis and used a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method (S36/S35 primer set) to amplify T. cruzi DNA from archived frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cardiac tissues. We show that the PCR method is applicable in archived frozen and FFPE tissues and the sensitivity is in the femtogram range. A positive correlation between PCR positivity and lymphocytic myocarditis in both baboons and cynomolgus monkeys is shown. We also show epicarditis as a common finding in animals infected with T. cruzi .