Chapter 5 — Trypanosomes Flashcards
Who are people that have great history with trypanosome-related diseases & which disease (3)?
- Carlos Chagas — chagas’ disease
- David Bruce — Africa sleeping sickness
- David Livingston — arsenic (it killed the trypanosome organism, but the side affects would eventually kill them after a couple weeks —> year) and African sleeping sickness
What kingdom and phyla is trypanosomes in?
- Kingdom Excavata
- Phylum Kinetoplastida
What is a kinetoplast?
disc shaped, large mass of circular, mitochondrial DNA, visible with the light microscope
- contains many copies of the mitochondrial genome
What are the 4 morphological stages in different life cycles?
- Trypomastigote
- Epimastigote (insect stage)
- Promastigote (insect stage — has simple flagella)
- amastigote stage
What is the agent of chagas’ disease?
Trypanosoma cruzi — can get anywhere, common in texas and is expanding range each year (has been found in roanoke)
Which 2 genera have insect intermediate hosts?
- trypanosoma (the trypanosomes)
- Leishmania
What are some characteristics of the family trypanosomatidae?
- about 95-98% parasitic
- heterogenous life cycle (requiring at least 2 kinds of host
- Morphological changes during life cycle
What are characteristics of the promastigote stage?
- vertebrate blood form
- free flagellum
- undulating membrane
What are characteristics of the epimastigote form?
- insect form
- trypanosoma brucei (african form)
- trypanosoma cruzi
What’s are some characteristics about the trypomastigote stage?
- vertebrate blood form
- trypanasoma cruzi
- trypanasoma brucei
- free flowing flagellum
- undulating membrane
What is the amastigote stage?
- vertebrae tissue form
- typanosoma cruzi
-no flagellum
What is the reason for the trypomastigote - epimastigoate change in trypanosoma brucei?
- adaptation to low (O2), glucose in blood
- in vertebrate blood —> high O2, glucose
- Insect gut —> low O2, glucose
(LOOK AT SLIDE 5)
What is the anterior station development?
- transmitted by bite
- Trypanosoma brucei
- develops in insect
(look at diagram on slide 6)
What is the posterior station development?
- transmitted by feces
- trypanosoma cruzi
(look at diagram on slide 6)
How does the feces of posterior station get in the blood?
they lay their feces on your skin, which is itchy. you then itch your skin allowing the feces to get into the blood stream
What are the 3 species of trypanosoma brucei? How can we distinguish between these?
- trypanosoma brucei brucei (nagana-only in animals)
- Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (west africa)
- Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense
- can only distinguish using PCR, looks same under microscope
What transmits trypanosoma?
- tsetse fly
- the bite hurts —> you will know if you get bight
- only occurs in africa
- highly pathogenic
- in both sexes
- flies are aggressive
Can trypanosoma brucei brucei affect grazing animals?
yes!
- the native ruminants (bushbuck — no effect)
- domestic cattle — fatal
Look at slide 11 for life cycle in the cattle to fly
draw out on paper!!!!
Do all subspecies of trypanosoma brucei have multiple hosts?
no!
Know infected and diagnostic stages
What are the disease mechanisms of Trypanosoma brucei?
- invasion of CNS by trypomastigotes
- antibody mediated damage to blood vessels
- body responds but has proliferation of antibodies
??
- antibody + complement —> parasite lysis
- Fragments stick to endothelium —> lysis of endothelial cells
What is perivascular cuffing?
inflammation around the brian —- causes seepage of fluid into brain (cerebral edema)
What does cerebral edema lead to?
a coma —> death (results in disruption of brain function)
What does the severity of the disease depend on? What are some examples of these?
the host species
- antelope —> no disease
- domestic cattle —> death in several days
- dogs & horses —> death in 15 days
What is nagana? What species does it affect?
- causes by trypanasomes in animals
- characterized by fever, lethargy, edema
- affects animals
How do you control Naga?
- intermediate host (what is it??)
- DDT (chemicals)
- remove brush
- destruction of reservoir hosts
- breed resistant cattle
How does the body respond to trypanasomes?
- body can respond well at first
- then the VSG can change its protein outer coat (DNA) and the body can no longer respond
What does VSG stand for?
Variable surface glycoprotein
How does the parasite avoid host immune response?
- VSG coat trypomastigote plasma membrane
- Tsetse fly injects clone (all with same VSG)
- trypomastigote changes to expression of new VSG when attacked by host antibodies
Look at graph on slide 16
getting successive clones with different VSGs
What is the bait and switch strategy?
(like putting cheese out to catch a mouse on a trap)
- the organism that enters the body enters the bloodstream in a different form
- it gets the body to go after one form & not the other to distract it
- then the body can not respond
(coaddaptation going on between host and parasite)