Figure 4.

Cell shortening in myocytes isolated from the right atrium and left ventricle from control and infected rats. For each cardiac segment were analyzed 81 ± 18 cardiomyocytes. Infected animals were inoculated intraperitoneally with Trypanosoma cruzi Y strain (300,000 trypomastigotes/50 g body weigh). Data of nine animals from each group were collected 9 weeks after inoculation and are expressed as mean ± SEM. Amplitude of shortening is expressed as a % of resting cell length (% r.c.l.). *Denotes statistical difference from the Control in the same segment (P < 0.001).