Chagas Disease Model
Chagas disease is endemic in many parts of Latin America and is a particularly serious problem among the rural poor, where it is estimated that 6 to 7 million people are infected with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). The disease has also become a global health problem, with several hundred thousand infected people among immigrants, mainly in the United States and Europe. There is currently no vaccine against Chagas disease. Given the immunological complexity and long-term nature of this infection, progress in this area is uncertain. T. cruzi is an obligate intracellular parasite with an extremely wide mammalian host range and can infect most nucleated cells. In humans, the initial acute phase of the disease lasts 4-6 weeks and is associated with significant parasitemia and infection of most tissues and organs. However, the symptoms are usually mild and non-specific, with short-term fever and muscle pain; most people do not realize they are infected. In some cases, the disease may be more serious, especially in children, whose death may be caused by myocarditis or encephalopathy.
Although it was first discovered more than a century ago, there are currently only two drugs available to treat this disease, and the results of the first clinical trial in 40 years are unremarkable. There is an urgent need to develop new drugs for the treatment of Chagas disease. This requires a better understanding of the parasite infection process and standardization of animal models designed for the development of drugs for Chagas disease. Such measures will improve the comparison of generated data and the predictability of test hypotheses and models designed for translation to human disease.
Creative Diagnostics believes that animal models are very useful for studying human diseases because there are hundreds of pathogens that can affect humans and animals. The use of laboratory animals in biomedical research is a key factor in the development of new prevention methods and the treatment of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Our experienced professional team can provide standard in vivo prediction models of Chagas disease for drug discovery and treatment efficacy studies that need to be developed and validated.
Our Procedures
- Animal modeling
- Antiparasitic treatment
- Clinical evaluation including MTD, parasitemia, and mortality
- Mycological evaluation including microscopy and histopathology
Our Services
- Chagas disease animal model development
- Strains: Trypanosoma cruzi (CL Brener, Y, SylvioX10, Colombian, Brazil, Tci, Tcii, Tciv, Bertoldo or Tulahuen).
- Disease stages: acute infection models and chronic infection models.
- Animal species: mouse (A/J, C3H/He, C3H, BALB/c, SCID, C57BL/6, CD1, Swiss, NMRI, null and transgenic mice), rat, hamster, guinea pigs, rabbit, chicken, dog, baboons, macaques, or capuchin monkeys.
- Review the in vivo model and evaluate its adequacy.
- Design test hypotheses to improve the predictability of the model.
- Evaluate new models or technologies and verify hypotheses (e.g., using Bio Luminescent Imaging, BLI); generate systematic data.
- Evaluation of the usefulness of the markers identified by proteomics research in the animal model of Chagas disease.
- Animal behavior or signs study.
- Parasitemia research.
- Histopathological analysis.
- Determination of acute toxicity in an animal model (i.e., Maximum Tolerable Dose, MTD).
- Determination of tissue accumulation and long-lasting half-life.
- Determination of reduction of parasitemia in the acute phase and the cut-off criteria for the selected compound.
- Determination of parasitological markers (T. cruzi stocks) and cut-off criteria for the selected compound in the acute phase.
- Determination of the compound's activity against T. cruzi in mammalian hosts, and parasites of different populations.
- Determination of the efficacy of the compound in the acute and chronic phases of infection.
- Determination of oral and short-term efficacy of the compound.
- Determination of the stability of the compound and the potential for long-term storage under tropical conditions.
Our Advantages
- Standardized animal and parasite strains.
- Standardized analytical tools.
- Standardized treatment protocols.
Creative Diagnostics is a full-service contract research organization specializing in microbiology and preclinical infectious disease research. The correct animal model provides unlimited possibilities for drug discovery and human health advancement. At Creative Diagnostics, we believe that providing clients with the best animal model solutions is the most effective way to promote key research from creativity to reality. We guarantee that the animal models required in research are strictly regulated to ensure responsible, ethical, and humane treatment.
