Infectivity and route of penetration in rats after oral and intraperitoneal inoculations of bloodstream and in vitro-cultured metacyclic forms of Trypanosoma lewisi.
Morphological changes of Trypanosoma lewisi blood trypomastigotes cultured in Schneider's Drosophila medium (SDM), supplemented or not with uric acid (SDM + UA), were compared to those that occurred in a control medium (M-199). No difference in trypanosome morphology and numbers was observed between SDM + UA and SDM cultures; there was little transformation into metacyclic stages in M-199. No difference was observed between the capacity of SDM- or SDM + UA-cultured metacyclic stages to infect rats. The infectivity of bloodstream forms was always higher than that of the SDM- or SDM + UA-cultured forms, whether inoculated orally or intraperitoneally. The oral inoculation of rats with tritium-labeled culture and bloodstream forms showed that the metatrypanosomes from the cultures remained longer in the salivary glands and tongue of the animal than the blood trypanosomes.
Proulx
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Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Macdonald College, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada.
Olivier
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Mora
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L
Tanner
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CE
D000818:Animals; D003470:Culture Media; D009068:Movement; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D014350:Trypanosoma lewisi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000494:pharmacology
D003470:Culture Media; D014527:Uric Acid