Metabolic Alteration of during Differentiation of Epimastigote to Trypomastigote Forms.

Intracellular parasites such as need to acquire valuable carbon sources from the host cell to replicate. Here, we investigated the energetic metabolism of during metacyclogenesis through the determination of enzymatic activities and quantification by HPLC of glycolytic and Krebs cycle short-chain carboxylic acids. Altered concentrations in pyruvate, acetate, succinate, and glycerate were measured during the growth of epimastigote in the complex medium BHI and their differentiation to trypomastigotes in the chemically defined medium, TAU3AAG. These alterations should represent significant differential metabolic modifications utilized by either form to generate energy. This paper is the first work dealing with the intracellular organic acid concentration measurement in parasites. Although it confirms the previous assumption of the importance of carbohydrate metabolism, it yields an essential improvement in metabolism knowledge.