Cardiac Autonomic Control Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Chagas' Heart Disease

Figure 1

The neurogenic hypothesis on the pathogenesis of myocardial damage in chagas disease. According to the classical pathway, sympathetic activation, due to an early and selective destruction of the cardiac postganglionic neurons, would precede and induce cardiac ventricular dilatation. The proposed modification states that myocardial damage of certain extent and sequelae of the acute phase of the disease leads to progressive ventricular dilatation with impairment of cardiac receptors, parasympathetic abnormalities, and sympathetic activation (see [15]; 5 : 327-29, adapted with permission from Elsevier).