Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) in the Human Placental Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi

In Vitro Infection of Trypanosoma cruzi Causes Decrease in Glucose Transporter Protein-1 (GLUT1) Expression in Explants of Human Placental Villi Cultured under Normal and High Glucose Concentrations

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic Chagas' disease agent, induces changes in protein pattern of the human placenta syncytiotrophoblast. The glucose transporter protein-1 (GLUT1) is the primary isoform involved in transplacental glucose transport. We carried out in vitro assays to determine if T. cruzi infection would induce changes in placental GLUT1 protein expression under normal and high concentration of glucose. Using Western blot and immunohistological techniques, GLUT1 expression was determined in normal placental villi cultured under normal or high concentrations of glucose, with or without in vitro T. cruzi infection, for 24 and 48 hours. High glucose media or T. cruzi infection alone reduced GLUT1 expression. A yet more accentuated reduction was observed when infection and high glucose condition took place together. We inform, for the first time, that T. cruzi infection may induce reduction of GLUT1 expression under normal and high glucose concentrations, and this effect is synergic to high glucose concentrations.

Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) study in diabetic human placental villi infected with Trypanosoma cruzi

Previous work has demonstrated that PLAP activity decreases in serum and placental villi from term chagasic and diabetic pregnant women. In vitro, T. cruzi induces changes in human syncytiotrophoblast's PLAP. Our aim was to determine if infection with T. cruzi induces changes in PLAP activity in diabetic and chagasic women's placenta, in order to elucidate if PLAP plays a role in the mechanisms of interaction between placenta and T. cruzi, and whether hyperglycemic conditions could worsen the placental infection. Using zymogrammes, Western blot, biochemical and immunohistological techniques, PLAP activity was determined in placental villi from diabetic and chagasic women, and in normal placentas cultured under hyperglycemic conditions with or without trypomastigotes. A significant reduction of PLAP expression was immunologically detected in infected diabetic and normal placental villi cultured under hyperglycemic conditions of 71 and 81%, respectively, compared with controls. A significant decrease of PLAP specific activity was registered in homogenates and in the culture media from both infected diabetic and normal placentas under hyperglycemic conditions (of about 50-70%), and in chagasic ones (of about 87%), when compared with controls. Thus, PLAP might be involved in parasite invasion and diabetic and hyperglycemic placentas could be more susceptible to T. cruzi infection.