Trypanosoma cruzi:T Cell Subpopulations in the Peyer's Patches of BALB/c Infected Mice

The changes in the T cell subsets of the Peyer's patches and the thymus were analyzed in BALB/c mice infected withTrypanosoma cruzi,Tulahuén strain. During the acute stage of the infection both lymphoid organs drastically reduced their cellularity. This was mainly due to the decrease in the immature CD4+CD8+T cell population in the thymus and in both T and B cells in the Peyer's patches. In the acute infection, few Peyer's patches were found and the histological studies revealed a depletion of the thymic-dependent areas, paralleling the decreased number of cells expressing CD4 and αβ T cell receptor. After 14 weeks, in the late stage of the infection, the cellularity and the levels of the T cell subsets studied returned to values similar to those of noninfected mice.