Active penetration of Trypanosoma cruzi into host cells: historical considerations and current concepts.
In the present short review, we analyze past experiments that addressed the interactions of intracellular pathogenic protozoa (Trypanosoma cruzi, Toxoplasma gondii, and Plasmodium) with host cells and the initial use of the term active penetration to indicate that a protozoan "crossed the host cell membrane, penetrating into the cytoplasm." However, the subsequent use of transmission electron microscopy showed that, for all of the protozoans and cell types examined, endocytosis, classically defined as involving the formation of a membrane-bound vacuole, took place during the interaction process. As a consequence, the recently penetrated parasites are always within a vacuole, designated the parasitophorous vacuole (PV).
Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Hertha Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Wanderley
W
de Souza
Tecia M Ulisses
TM
de Carvalho
Chagas disease; Trypanosoma cruzi; active penetration; endocytosis; phagocytosis