Laboratory of Tissue and Cell Biology, State University of North Fluminense - Darcy Ribeiro, Campos dos Goytacazes, 28013-602, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
J Microbiol. 2019 Oct;57(10):918-926. doi: 10.1007/s12275-019-9018-6. Epub 2019 Aug 28.
Trypanosoma cruzi is an obligate intracellular parasite transmitted to vertebrate hosts by blood-sucking insects. Molecules present in parasites and mammalian cells allow the recognition and parasite internalization. Metallic ions play an essential role in the establishment and maintenance of host-parasite interaction. However, little is known about how parasites handle with essential and nonessential metal quotas. This study aimed to investigate the influence of metal ions on the biological processes of T. cruzi infected cells. Infected cells were incubated with ZnCl, CdCl, and HgCl for 12 h and labeled with different specific dyes to investigate the cellular events related to intracellular parasite death and elimination. Infected host cells and parasite's mitochondria underwent functional and structural disorders, in addition to parasite's DNA condensation and pH decrease on host cells, which led to parasite death. Further investigations suggested that lysosomes were involved in pH decrease and the double membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum formed vacuoles surrounding damaged parasites, which indicate the occurrence of autophagy for parasite elimination. In conclusion, low concentrations of nonessential and essential metals cause a series of damage to Trypanosoma cruzi organelles, leading to its loss of viability, death, and elimination, with no removal of the host cells.
克氏锥虫是一种专性细胞内寄生虫，通过吸血昆虫传播给脊椎动物宿主。寄生虫和哺乳动物细胞中存在的分子允许识别和寄生虫内化。金属离子在建立和维持宿主-寄生虫相互作用中起着至关重要的作用。然而，对于寄生虫如何处理必需和非必需金属配额知之甚少。本研究旨在研究金属离子对感染细胞的生物过程的影响。将感染细胞与 ZnCl、CdCl 和 HgCl 孵育 12 小时，并使用不同的特异性染料标记，以研究与细胞内寄生虫死亡和消除相关的细胞事件。感染的宿主细胞和寄生虫的线粒体经历了功能和结构障碍，此外，寄生虫的 DNA 凝聚和 pH 值降低也发生在宿主细胞上，这导致寄生虫死亡。进一步的研究表明，溶酶体参与 pH 值降低，内质网的双层形成围绕受损寄生虫的空泡，表明发生了自噬以消除寄生虫。总之，非必需和必需金属的低浓度会对克氏锥虫细胞器造成一系列损伤，导致其丧失活力、死亡和消除，而宿主细胞不受影响。
