title: Experimental and Mathematical-Modeling Characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi Epimastigote Motility.
abstract: The present work is aimed at characterizing the motility of parasite T. cruzi in its epimastigote form. To that end, we recorded the trajectories of two strains of this parasite (a wild-type strain and a stable transfected strain, which contains an ectopic copy of LYT1 gene and whose motility is known to be affected). We further extracted parasite trajectories from the recorded videos, and statistically analysed the following trajectory-step features: step length, angular change of direction, longitudinal and transverse displacements with respect to the previous step, and mean square displacement. Based on the resulting observations, we developed a mathematical model to simulate parasite trajectories. The fact that the model predictions closely match most of the experimentally observed parasite-trajectory characteristics, allows us to conclude that the model is an accurate description of T. cruzi motility.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apodaca NL, México.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sosa-Hernández
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, SLP, México.
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ballesteros-Rodea
authors.affiliation: Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apodaca NL, México.
authors.forename: Jorge A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Arias-Del-Angel
authors.affiliation: Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apodaca NL, México.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dévora-Canales
authors.affiliation: Depto. de Biomedicina Molecular, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, México DF, México.
authors.forename: Rebeca G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Manning-Cela
authors.affiliation: Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apodaca NL, México.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santana-Solano
authors.affiliation: Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apodaca NL, México.
authors.forename: Moisés
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santillán
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000469:parasitology; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*