Figure 2.

Fexinidazole outperforms benznidazole and nifurtimox as a treatment for experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infections. (A) BALB/c mice were infected with bioluminescent T. cruzi CL Brener strain [99]. At the chronic stage of infection (124 days), they were treated with benznidazole (BNZ) or fexinidazole (FXN) (30 mg/kg, orally, once daily) for 5 days (marked by red arrow). Treated mice were immunosuppressed on days 138, 142 and 146 using cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg, i.p) (red lines). Images were acquired using the Lumina II IVIS system (Caliper Life Science) [100]. (B) BALB/c mice at the acute stage of infection (15 days) were treated with nifurtimox (NFX) or FXN (100 mg/kg, orally, once daily) for 10 days (red arrow), and then immunosuppressed on days 35, 39 and 43 using cyclophosphamide (red line). UT, untreated control mice. Heat-maps are on log10 scales and indicate intensity of bioluminescence from low (blue) to high (red). Full data set available in reference [34].