Viability and infectivity analysis of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> under axenic conditions
Keywords:
TOXOPLASMA GONDII / infectivity, TOXOPLASMA / isolation & purification, FLOW CYTOMETRY, MICROBIAL VIABILITY.Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the infectivity and viability of the tachyzoite form of Toxoplasma gondii maintained in axenic medium. METHODS: Tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii isolated from infected mice were suspended in phosphate-buffered saline pH 7.2 or phosphate-buffered saline pH 7.2 plus 10% or 20% foetal calf serum, and incubated for 24 and for 48 hours at 37ºC. Afterwards the parasites were: (i) incubated with propidium iodide and analysed by flow cytometry, using the fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) system; (ii) injected in mice to check the parasite viability in axenic conditions and, (iii) added to mouse embryonic fibroblasts to investigate their infectivity and ability to intracellular development. RESULTS: Analysis by flow cytometry showed that Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites maintained in phosphate-buffered saline supplemented with 20% foetal calf serum displayed high cellular viability. The parasites kept their infectivity in both the in vivo and the in vitro systems, respectively demonstrated by their ability to replicate in mice and to form rosettes in mouse embryonic fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS: Our data open new perspectives for the study of different aspects of Toxoplasma gondii cell biology, including nutrition mechanisms, in vitro drug trials, or cellular and molecular studies to be performed directly on the parasite.Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright
The submission of originals to Scientia Medica implies the transfer by the authors of the right for publication. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication. If the authors wish to include the same data into another publication, they must cite Scientia Medica as the site of original publication.
Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise specified, material published in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which allows unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is correctly cited.