Ballon-Landa G, Douglas H, Colmerauer M E, Goddard D, Davis C E
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1985;79(1):24-8. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(85)90224-x.
The inability to cultivate infective bloodstream forms of the African trypanosomes in cell-free media has complicated studies of the biology of trypanosomes and the pathogenesis of trypanosomiasis. We attempted to overcome this problem by subcutaneous implantation in mice of Millipore chambers that isolate trypanosomes from cells but permit diffusion of soluble substances across their membranes. Chambers were inoculated with 5 X 10(4) to 5 X 10(5) per ml Trypanosoma brucei, T. rhodesiense or T. gambiense; the trypanosomes multiplied rapidly, persisted for as long as five weeks, and remained infective, even when the original inocula were freed of donor cells by ion-exchange. The presence of anti-trypanosomal IgG and IgM in the sera and chambers of recipient mice proved that trypanosomal and mammalian products crossed the membranes. Chamber trypanosomes also expressed two important aspects of normal in vivo biological behaviour: (i) differentiation from long slender to short stumpy bloodstream forms and (ii) antigenic variation. Death of trypanosomes was associated with the presence of IgM antibody in the chambers. This model provides a system for study of an entire population of trypanosomes in an extravascular, cell-free environment.
无法在无细胞培养基中培养非洲锥虫具有感染性的血流形式，这使得锥虫生物学及锥虫病发病机制的研究变得复杂。我们试图通过在小鼠皮下植入密理博小室来克服这一问题，该小室可将锥虫与细胞隔离开，但允许可溶性物质跨膜扩散。小室接种每毫升5×10⁴至5×10⁵个布氏锥虫、罗德西亚锥虫或冈比亚锥虫；锥虫迅速繁殖，持续长达五周，且仍具感染性，即便最初接种物经离子交换去除供体细胞后亦是如此。受体小鼠血清和小室中存在抗锥虫IgG和IgM，证明锥虫及哺乳动物产物可穿过膜。小室中的锥虫还表现出正常体内生物学行为的两个重要方面：(i) 从长细型血流形式向短粗型血流形式的分化，以及 (ii) 抗原变异。锥虫死亡与小室中IgM抗体的存在有关。该模型提供了一个在血管外无细胞环境中研究整个锥虫群体的系统。
