A estruturação do programa de capacitação profissional de biossegurança no contexto do projeto de modernização da gestão científica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz / Development of a biosafety training program aligned with the scientific management modernization project of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute

O presente artigo apresenta as etapas de estruturação do Programa de Capacitação Profissional de Biossegurança (PCPB), em consonância com o Projeto de Modernização da Gestão Científica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), detalhando o ciclo planejamento-desenvolvimento-avaliação, em especial do Curso de Biossegurança em Laboratório de Pesquisa Biomédica. Inicialmente, para o ciclo diagnóstico foram aplicados questionários aos interlocutores dos laboratórios do IOC, os quais revelaram interesse de participação no PCPB para ambas as categorias profissionais (níveis médio e superior), indicando como temáticas preferenciais biossegurança e boas práticas de laboratório. Na fase de planejamento foi definido que o PCPB seria subdivido em dois projetos (Boas Práticas de Laboratório de Saúde Pública para os profissionais de nível médio e Curso de Biossegurança para Laboratórios de Pesquisa Biomédica para profissionais de nível superior). A seguir, na fase de estruturação do curso, os módulos contemplados incluíram: introdutório; riscos químico, físico e biológico; gestão da qualidade e experimentação animal. Assim, no período 2006-2008, foram capacitados 315 profissionais e realizadas avaliações segundo o modelo de David Kirkpatrick. O primeiro nível, chamado de reação, foi aferido e demonstrou que 54,03 por cento dos profissionais declararam que o curso foi excelente; 39,59 por cento classificaram como bom e os demais 6,38 por cento acharam que foi regular ou não opinaram. Para a avaliação do aprendizado foram realizados, a cada módulo, pré e pós-testes. Foi verificado que todos os módulos tiveram acréscimos nas médias do pós-teste em relação ao pré-teste. Os resultados obtidos apontaram estratégias a serem seguidas no aperfeiçoamento desse modelo de educação continuada em biossegurança.

Experimental chemotherapy for Chagas disease: 15 years of research contributions from in vivo and in vitro studies

Chagas disease, which is caused by the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected illness with 12-14 million reported cases in endemic geographic regions of Latin America. While the disease still represents an important public health problem in these affected areas, the available therapy, which was introduced more than four decades ago, is far from ideal due to its substantial toxicity, its limited effects on different parasite stocks, and its poor activity during the chronic phase of the disease. For the past 15 years, our group, in collaboration with research groups focused on medicinal chemistry, has been working on experimental chemotherapies for Chagas disease, investigating the biological activity, toxicity, selectivity and cellular targets of different classes of compounds on T. cruzi. In this report, we present an overview of these in vitro and in vivo studies, focusing on the most promising classes of compounds with the aim of contributing to the current knowledge of the treatment of Chagas disease and aiding in the development of a new arsenal of candidates with anti-T. cruzi efficacy.

Trypanosoma cruzi-cardiomyocytes: new contributions regarding a better understanding of this interaction

The present paper summarizes new approaches regarding the progress done to the understanding of the interaction of Trypanosoma cruzi-cardiomyocytes. Mannose receptors localized at the surface of heart muscle cell are involved in binding and uptake of the parasite. One of the most striking events in the parasite-heart muscle cells interaction is the disruption of the actin cytoskeleton. We have investigated the regulation of the actin mRNA during the cytopathology induced in myocardial cells by the parasite. T. cruzi invasion increases calcium resting levels in cardiomyocytes. We have previously shown that Ca2+ ATPase of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SERCA) is involved in the invasion of T. cruzi in cardiomyocytes. Treating the cells with thapsigargin, a drug that binds to all SERCA ATPases and causes depletion of intracellular calcium stores, we found a 75 per cent inhibition in the T. cruzi-cardiomyocytes invasion.

Improved enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) for the study of Trypanosoma cruzi-host cell interaction in vitro

We herein present an improved assay for detecting the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi in infected cultures. Using chagasic human sera (CHS), we were able to detect T. cruzi infection in primary cultures of both peritoneal macrophages and heart muscle cells (MHC). To avoid elevated background levels - hitherto observed in all experiments especially in those using HMC - CHS were preincubated with uninfected cells in monolayers or suspensions prior to being used for detection of T. cruzi in infected monolayers. Preincubation with cell suspensions gave better results than with monolayers, reducing background by up to three times and increasing sensitivity by to twenty times. In addition, the continous fibroplastic cell line L929 was shown to be suitable for preadsorption of CHS. These results indicate that the high background levels observed in previous reports may be due to the presence of human autoantibodies that recognize surface and/or extracellular matrix components in cell monolayers. We therefore propose a modified procedure that increases the performance of the ELISA method, making it an useful tool even in cultures that would otherwise be expected to present low levels of infection or high levels of background