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. 2016:2016:4503214.
doi: 10.1155/2016/4503214. Epub 2016 May 16.

Trypanosoma vivax Adhesion to Red Blood Cells in Experimentally Infected Sheep

Alpidio A Boada-Sucre  1 , Marcello Salvatore Rossi Spadafora  2 , Lucinda M Tavares-Marques  3 , Héctor J Finol  4 , Armando Reyna-Bello  5
Affiliations

Trypanosoma vivax Adhesion to Red Blood Cells in Experimentally Infected Sheep

Alpidio A Boada-Sucre et al. Patholog Res Int. 2016.

Abstract

Trypanosomosis, a globally occurring parasitic disease, poses as a major obstacle to livestock production in tropical and subtropical regions resulting in tangible economic losses. In Latin America including Venezuela, trypanosomosis of ruminants is mainly caused by Trypanosoma vivax. Biologically active substances produced from trypanosomes, as well as host-trypanosome cellular interactions, contribute to the pathogenesis of anemia in an infection. The aim of this study was to examine with a scanning electron microscope the cellular interactions and alterations in ovine red blood cells (RBC) experimentally infected with T. vivax. Ovine infection resulted in changes of RBC shape as well as the formation of surface holes or vesicles. A frequent observation was the adhesion to the ovine RBC by the trypanosome's free flagellum, cell body, or attached flagellum in a process mediated by the filopodia emission from the trypanosome surface. The observed RBC alterations are caused by mechanical and biochemical damage from host-parasite interactions occurring in the bloodstream. The altered erythrocytes are prone to mononuclear phagocytic removal contributing to the hematocrit decrease during infection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scanning electron micrograph showing a large area (⇒) of T. vivax in close contact to sheep erythrocytes at 30 days after infection. Bar = 1.2 μm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Adhesion of T. vivax to three RBCs through its body and flagellum (⇒). Note the presence of a vesicle (△) in one RBC at 15 days after infection. Bar = 1.4 μm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Attached (⇒) trypanosome (☆) to two sheep RBCs (◯) at 30 days of infection. Bar = 1.4 μm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
High resolution of a parasite in division process (☆) and contact (⇒) with an erythrocyte sheep at 45 days of infection. Note the holes in RBC (⚡). Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scanning electron microscopy of adhesion (⇒) from one parasite in division (☆) to sheep erythrocyte at 45 days of infection. Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Electron microscopy of adhesion (⇒) of T. vivax in division (☆) to a sheep RBC (◯) through the attached flagellum at 30 days of infection. Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 7
Figure 7
T. vivax flagellum contact (⇒) with a RBC at 15 days of inoculation. Bar = 1.7 μm.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Scanning electron micrographs showing a large area of T. vivax flagellum in close adhesion (⇒) to a sheep erythrocyte (◯) at 30 days after infection. Bar = 1.6 μm.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Scanning electron micrograph showing the adhesion of a T. vivax bloodstream trypomastigote to two sheep RBCs (◯) with holes (⚡) at 45 days of infection. The adhesion was through free flagellum and cell body. Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Trypomastigote in a close contact to a RBC cluster (◯) at 15 days after infection. Notice the emission of a pseudopod prolongation from T. vivax (△) and the adhesion of T. vivax trypomastigote to RBCs (⇒). Bar = 1.4 μm.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Scanning electron micrograph showing a large area (⇒) of T. vivax in close contact to an erythrocyte at 30 days after infection. Bar = 0.8 μm.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Scanning electron micrograph of a T. vivax trypomastigote in division process (☆) at 45 days of infection. Note the presence of holes on the RBC surface (⚡) and its round-morphology. Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 13
Figure 13
High resolution micrograph of a sheep RBC cluster showing a deformed RBC (◯) with small vesicles and emission of a pseudopod (⇒) at 15 days of infection. Bar = 1.3 μm.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Adhesion (⇒) of one WBC to a deformed RBC (◯) in the peripheral blood of sheep at 15 days of infection with T. vivax. Bar = 1.0 μm.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Electron micrograph showing an activated WBC in peripheral blood of a sheep at 15 days after infection with T. vivax. Bar = 2.5 μm.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Adhesion (⇒) of WBC to RBC cluster (◯) in sheep peripheral blood at 15 days of infection with T. vivax. Bar = 2.0 μm.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Phagocytosis (⇒) of a RBC (◯) by an activated WBC in peripheral blood of a sheep at 15 days of infection with T. vivax. Bar = 3.0 μm.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Transmission electron microscopy of a RBC phagocytosed (◯) by a polymorphonuclear cell-neutrophil (⇒) in the liver of a sheep infected with T. vivax at 15 days. Notice the RBC inside a phagocytic vacuole surrounded by lysosomes. Bar = 1.5 μm.
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