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Tritrichomonas foetus pseudocysts adhere to vaginal epithelial cells in a contact-dependent manner

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Abstract

Tritrichomonas foetus is a parasitic protist of the urogenital tract of cattle. It presents the trophozoite stage, a motile elongated form that constitutes most of the cells in a normal population, and a pseudocyst stage, an immotile rounded form that appears under unfavourable environmental conditions. In the present report pseudocysts were studied in natural conditions and after induction by chemicals or cycles of cooling and warming of cultures. The capacity of T. foetus to adhere to vaginal epithelial cells (VECs) was compared for both trophozoite and pseudocyst forms. By the use of video-enhanced-contrast microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and immunofluorescence microscopy techniques, we present evidence that: (1) T. foetus easily internalizes the flagella and forms pseudocysts under several unfavourable conditions; (2) T. foetus in both pseudocyst and trophozoite forms is able to adhere to VECs; (3) the adhesion rate is higher for pseudocysts than for trophozoites; (4) the adhesin Tf190 is expressed in both forms during interaction; (5) the adhesion process of pseudocysts seems to occur in a contact-dependent manner. Thus, we propose that the pseudocyst stage is not a degenerative form, but a functional life form that is able to interact with and firmly adhere to VECs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Programa de Núcleos de Excelência and Associação Universitária Santa Úrsula.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Ciências Morfológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rafael Meyer Mariante

  2. Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular, Universidade Santa Úrsula, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rafael Meyer Mariante & Marlene Benchimol

  3. Rua Jornalista Orlando Dantas 59, Botafogo, 222-31-010, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Marlene Benchimol

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Letícia Coutinho Lopes

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  1. Rafael Meyer Mariante
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  2. Letícia Coutinho Lopes
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  3. Marlene Benchimol
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Correspondence to Marlene Benchimol.

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Meyer Mariante, R., Coutinho Lopes, L. & Benchimol, M. Tritrichomonas foetus pseudocysts adhere to vaginal epithelial cells in a contact-dependent manner. Parasitol Res 92, 303–312 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1026-z

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