Fig 4.

Hypertrophy (A) and fibrosis (B) in the colons of chronic-phase Swiss mice infected with 50,000 trypomastigotes of the Y strain of T. cruzi Y strain. (A) The volume of the muscle cells increased in the chronic-phase infected group (D) compared with the control group (C). (B) In addition, the amount of the collagen fibers located between the muscular fibers increased in the chronic-phase infected group (F) compared with the acute-phase infected group (E). Values represent means ± SEM. *p = 0.015, **p = 0.018. N = 10 for each experimental and control group. The results represent two independent experiments. Black: infected groups; white: control groups. C, D, E, and F Magnification at 20×. Scale bar corresponds to 20 μm. HE staining in C and D. Gomori’s trichrome staining in E and F.