Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Ultrastructure of Trypanosoma cruzi in mouse liver

1971; Elsevier BV; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0014-4894(71)90083-x

1090-2449

Antonio Sanabria,

Trypanosoma species research and implications

Albino mice inoculated intraperitoneally with Trypanosoma cruzi, were killed 7, 14, and 21 days subsequently. Fine sections of liver, fixed in glutaraldehyde and OsO4, were studied by electron microscopy. The trypomastigote form is freely observed in the liver sinusoids showing protrusions of its membrane like the filopodium processes, when in contact with Kupffer cells or its finger-like processes. In parasites phagocytized by Kupffer cells, the fuzzy layer surrounding the parasites' membrane appears detached in certain areas. This may be due to the effect of the hydrolytic enzymes of the numerous lysosomes of these macrophages. Parasites nests, in different stages of development, occupy the cytoplasm of the Kupffer cells. In spite of the absence of parasites in the interior of the hepatocytes, the cytoplasm of some of them may present fatty metamorphosis, vacuoles of different sizes; the endoplasmic reticulum is distended by an amorphous material and the mitochondria appear swollen. These alterations could be due to a toxic reaction occurring some distance away from the parasites.