Trypanosoma cruzi: circulating polysaccharide factors excreted in vitro and in vivo.

An antigen factor (EF), thermostable and soluble in trichloroacetic acid was detected in the supernatant fluid of epimastigote cultures of Trypanosoma cruzi and in the sera of patients with acute Chagas disease. An hyperimmune antiserum to this antigenic factor was obtained in rabbits. The EF was revealed on the fibroblast surface membranes of rats infected with trypomastigotes, using the indirect immunofluorescence technique. The presence of EF in the sera of patients with acute Chagas disease as well as in the supernatant of epimastigotes culture at logarithmic phase, leads to its association with a process of parasite proliferation. Being EF a component of the parasite, its origin both in vitro and in vivo could be the result of an excretion-secretion of parasite or simply a result of the parasite's death. It can be postulated that the same as in other protozoic infection, EF could be used by T. cruzi in the process of cell penetration.