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Entry and intracellular location of Mycoplasma hominis in Trichomonas vaginalis

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Abstract

The parasite Trichomonas vaginalis causes one of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infections in humans. The coexistence of different sexually transmitted diseases in the same individual is very common, such as vaginal infections by T. vaginalis in association with Mycoplasma fermentans or Mycoplasma hominis. However, the consequences and behavior of mycoplasma during trichomonad infections are virtually unknown. This study was undertaken to elucidate whether mycoplasmas enter and leave trichomonad cells and if so how. M. hominis was analyzed in different trichomonad isolates and the process of internalization and the pathway within the parasite was studied. Parasites naturally and experimentally infected with mycoplasmas were used and transmission electron microscopy, cytochemistry and PCR analyses were performed. The results show that: (1) M. hominis enters T. vaginalis cells by endocytosis; (2) some mycoplasmas use a terminal polar tip as anchor to the trichomonad plasma membrane; (3) some trichomonad isolates are able to digest mycoplasmas, mainly when the trichomonads are experimentally infected; (4) some fresh virulent isolates are able to maintain mycoplasmas as cohabitants in the cell’s interior; (5) some mycoplasmas are able to escape from the vacuole to the trichomonad cytosol, and trichomonad plasma membrane budding suggested that mycoplasmas could leave the parasite cell.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Misako Marsumoto (Osaka, Japan), for providing anti-mycoplasmas monoclonal antibodies. This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Programa de Núcleos de Excelência (PRONEX), CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), FENORTE (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) and Associação Universitária Santa Úrsula (AUSU).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Santa Ursula, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Ricardo Gomes Vancini & Marlene Benchimol

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Morfológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Ricardo Gomes Vancini

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

    Marlene Benchimol

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  1. Ricardo Gomes Vancini
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  2. Marlene Benchimol
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Correspondence to Marlene Benchimol.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Vancini, R.G., Benchimol, M. Entry and intracellular location of Mycoplasma hominis in Trichomonas vaginalis . Arch Microbiol 189, 7–18 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-007-0288-8

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