Trypanosoma cruzi: shedding of surface antigens as membrane vesicles.

Tissue culture-derived trypomastigotes from Trypanosoma cruzi spontaneously shed surface antigens into the culture medium. The shedding is a temperature- and time-dependent phenomenon and is independent of the presence of proteins or immune serum in the medium. The analysis of this process in four strains (Y, YuYu, CA1, and RA) showed differences in the amounts of polypeptides released. However, for all strains the liberation of the entire set of surface polypeptides ranging in molecular mass from 70 to 150 kDa was observed. Biochemical and electron microscopic data strongly suggest that most of the surface antigens are released as plasma membrane vesicles, ranging from 20 to 80 nm in diameter.