Autonomic dysfunction plays a significant role in the development of chronic Chagas
disease (CD). Destruction of cardiac parasympathetic ganglia can underlie arrhythmia and
heart failure, while lesions of enteric neurons in the intestinal plexuses are a direct cause of
aperistalsis and megasyndromes. Neuropathology is generated by acute infection when the
parasite, though not directly damaging to neuronal cells, elicits immune reactions that can
become cytotoxic, inducing oxidative stress and neurodegeneration. Anti-neuronal …