Fig. 4.

Trypanocidal effect of benznidazole on primary cultures of infected cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocytes were infected with T. cruzi for 48 h and treated with different doses of Bzl for 72 h. Parasite load was measured by qPCR. Parasite equivalents per 50 ng total gDNA are shown. (A). Cell viability upon Bzl treatment was evaluated in uninfected cardiomyocytes by Trypan blue dye exclusion assay and expressed as percentage of total cells. Bar hues represent the same Bzl concentrations as in left panel (B). Results are expressed as mean of 3 independent experiments (3 replicates/treatment) ± SEM. ***P < 0.0001 vs infected untreated cells; ###P < 0.0001 vs control cells. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)