Electron microscopic study of Trypanosoma cruzi in thin sections of infected tissue cultures and of blood-agar forms

Thin sections of Trypanosoma cruzi in tissue cultures and from blood agar medium have been examined with the electron microscope. In the leishmania and crithidia forms of the parasite a neat separation of kinetonucleus and blepharoplast has been obtained and these structures are described. The blepharoplast is the row of basal corpuscles which give origin to the axial fibres of the flagellum. Division of the parasite seems to begin in the basal corpuscles; it is followed by binary division of the kinetonucleus and only later by fission of nucleus and cytoplasm. During the development of the leishmania into the crithidia form, the kinetonucleus and basal bodies are dislocated towards the posterior half of the trypanosome. The migration of these two structures and the consequent lengthening of the flagellum causes the surface membrane of the flagellum to be pushed inwards to form a deep invagination, so that the flagellum comes to the surface of the body and is separated from it along its whole length by its own sheath. In the adult form of the parasite a great vacuole is formed near the posterior tip of the trypanosome. It has no definite structure in the electron microscope, is transparent and seems to be filled with a liquid content. The basal corpuscles are situated in this region near the wall of the vacuole. The typical structure of the kinetonucleus could not be identified with certainty in these forms; it seems to be altered by the formation of the vacuole. The vacuole is crossed by a fibre system which comes from the body of the trypanosome and is often dislodged by the size of the vacuole. This fibre system ends in a sharply pointed process of varying length. The cost of reproduction of figures was defrayed by the Instituto de Biofísica da Universidade do Brasil.