[An electron microscopic study on a strain of Trypanosoma vivax maintained in cattle (author's transl)].

The ultrastructure of the blood forms of Trypanosoma vivax from its natural host, cattle, is described. The pellicula, consisting of an unit membrane with a superimposed surface coat, the structure and attachment of the flagellum and the sub-pellicular microtubules showed the usual structural and organizational features. Cell organelles and cytoplasmic inclusions such as cell nucleus, mitochondria, kinetoplast, Golgi-complex, endoplasmic reticulum and membrane-isolated vacuoles, which occur in trypanosomidae, are presented and described. The ultrastructure of the trypomastigote forms of T. vivax has been compared to that of other trypanosome species and similarities and deviations are discussed. The mitochondrion shows a striking difference in dimension and number of microtubules from other trypanosome species. The kinetoplast, the K-DNA containing part of this mitochondrion, differs in its relative position to the basal body and in the mitochondrion from other flagellate species. It is marginally situated and the K-DNA is frequently lying parallel to the basis of the flagellum.