Mice and parasites
Female and male BALB/c mice were obtained at 4-6 weeks old from Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. Animals were housed in groups of 5 per cage, receivedad libitum food and water and a 12-h light/dark cycle. T. cruzi (H1) parasites, originally isolated from a human case in Yucatan, Mexico were maintained by serial passage in BALB/c mice every 25-28 days and used for infections as previously described33.