The fate of Leishmania braziliensis, L. donovani and Trypanosoma cruzi in diffusion chambers implanted into hamsters and mice. A preliminary study.

Abstract

: Leishmania braziliensis and L. donovani were investigated for the transformation and survival in intraperitoneal (IP), subcutaneous (SC) and intrascrotal (IS) diffusion chambers implanted into hamsters and mice. For a comparison, Trypanosoma cruzi was also examined by using the same procedure. The 2 Leishmania species revealed an unexpectedly short survival time, and no transformation was observed in the parasites in chambers implanted into hamsters or mice. IS chambers seemed to provide a better condition for L. donovani, L. braziliensis and T. cruzi, as compared with IP and SC chambers in hamsters. In the study, no IS chambers were examined in mice because of too small size of the scrotum to insert the diffusion chamber. T. cruzi showed a considerably longer period of survival than L. donovani or L. braziliensis in mice, but not in hamsters. The trypanosome, T. cruzi, transformed from epimastigote to trypomastigote and amastigote in IP and SC chambers in mice. These results seemed to suggest that the factors responsible for the transformation and survival of the organisms might be greatly different between the 2 genera, Leishmania and Trypanosoma, and also between the 2 host animals, hamsters and mice.