ORIGINAL PAPER Protective effect of aspirin treatment on mouse behavior in the acute phase of experimental infection with Trypanosoma cruzi Arturo Silvero-Isidre 1,2 & Sergio Morínigo-Guayuán 1,2 & Aaron Meza-Ojeda 1,2 & Marcelo Mongelós-Cardozo 1,2 & Claudia Centurión-Wenninger 2 & Susy Figueredo-Thiel 3 & Diego F. Sanchez 4 & Nidia Acosta 1 Received: 29 June 2017 /Accepted: 21 November 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2017 Abstract Chagas disease is a potentially fatal disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which can in some cases affect the central nervous system. The objective was to evaluate the effect of aspirin (ASA) in the behavior of mice infected with T. cruzi during the acute phase. This was an experimental study with random assignation. Twenty four BALB/c mice were divided into four groups of six animals each as follows: only ASA (OA), ASA before infection (BI), ASA after infection (AI) and only infection (OI). The strain used for infection was M/HOM/Bra/53/Y. An ASA dose of 100 mg/kg per day was administered 72 h before infection to BI group and the same dose 48 h after infection to AI group. Mice behavior in the open field test, mortality, and brain histopathology was evaluated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, chi square test, and Kaplan-Meier with long-rank for survival analysis. In the open field test, the OA group has similar results with the BI group, in the variables of immobility and escape. Also, the OA group displayed significantly higher rates of micturition (p < 0.001) and defecation (p < 0.001) compared to infected groups. Mortality was higher in BI group (p = 0.02). The presence of T. cruzi amastigotes were higher in brain tissues of the AI and OI groups (p = 0.008). In conclusion, the administration of ASA before infection seemed to prevent behavioral changes induced by the acute infection, but it led to accelerated mortality. The study highlighted the potential importance of the pathways inhibited by ASA in the early hours of acute infection with T. cruzi. Keywords Trypanosoma cruzi . Central nervous system . Amastigotes . Behavior . Aspirin Introduction Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potential deadly disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). Worldwide, it is estimated that around 8 million people are affected by it, mainly in Latin America, where Chagas disease is endemic (Cardoso et al. 2015). It has two clearly differentiated phases. The acute phase starts around 1 week after the infection and in this phase, a denervation of the autonomous nervous system starts. It also affects the central nervous system (CNS), and it can cause a wide range of manifestations. Up to 10% of infected children may die of meningoencephalitis while in human immunode- ficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, parasitemia is exacer- bated, and consequently, these patients could develop pseudotumoral meningoencephalitis and brain abscesses with a high mortality rate in spite of receiving the specific treatment Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5693-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Arturo Silvero-Isidre arturosilvero@hotmail.com 1 Departamento de Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay 2 Departamento de Fisiopatología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay 3 Departamento de Patología, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay 4 Departamento de Anatomía-Patológica, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Asunción, Paraguay Parasitology Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5693-6