title: Biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi strains.
abstract: Biological parameters of five Trypanosoma cruzi strains from different sources were determined in order to know the laboratory behaviour of natural populations. The parameters evaluated were growth kinetics of epimastigotes, differentiation into metacyclic forms, infectivity in mammalian cells grown in vitro and parasite susceptibility to nifurtimox, benznidazole and gentian violet. Differences in transformation to metacyclic, in the percentage of infected cells as well as in the number of amastigotes per cell were observed among the strains. Regarding to pharmacological assays, Y strain was the most sensitive to the three assayed compounds. These data demonstrate the heterogeneity of natural populations of T. cruzi, the only responsible of infection in humans.
authors: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva (Parasitología), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España. rafael.martinez@uam.es
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Martínez-Díaz
authors: J A
authors: JA
authors: Escario
authors: J J
authors: JJ
authors: Nogal-Ruiz
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Gómez-Barrio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000469:parasitology; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005840:Gentian Violet / Q000494:pharmacology; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008264:Macrophages / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D009547:Nifurtimox / Q000494:pharmacology; D009593:Nitroimidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology; D021261:Parasitic Sensitivity Tests; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D014709:Vero Cells / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D009593:Nitroimidazoles; D005840:Gentian Violet; D009547:Nifurtimox