By the study of histological sections of smooth muscle in the wall of the adrenal vein in human chronic Chagas'disease 18 nuclei were identified in 40 cells parasitized by T. cruzi. With an ocular micrometer two diameters of each nest and their nucleus were taken, obtaining their mean size and standard deviation (SD) (25.7 µm ± 17.2 for nest diameters and 12 µm ± 5.3 and 7.5 pm ± 2.82 for the nuclear diameters of the mononucleated and binucleated cells respectively). The relation nucleus diameter/nest diameter was 0.5 ± 0.16. 83.3% of the nests had one nucleus and 16.7% were binucleated. The mean nuclear volume of the parasitized cells was 1204 µm³ ± 807.0 and of the non parasitized smooth muscle cells was 69.6 µm³ + 7.2. Nuclear form and outline were varied and irregular. Hyperchroma tic or vesicular nuclei, with a large and well defined chromatinic membrane usually show in cells one or two nucleoli per section but this number can reach 8 nucleoli. These nuclear alterations frequently seen in the wall of the adrenal vein of chagasicpatients could be significant in the intracellular cycle of T. cruzi in the leiomyocyte.
Chagas' disease; Trypanosoma cruzi; Adrenal gland; Nucleus; Smooth muscle cell