Transmission and scanning electron microscopy of host cell entry by Toxoplasma gondii.

Entry by tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, into peritoneal cells was investigated with transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The process of entry is initiated by the parasite contacting the host cell with its anterior end, creating a small depression in the plasmalemma of the host cell. Occasionally, a small portion of the host cell cytoplasm protrudes and contaccts the anterior end of the parasite. A cylindrical structure (35 nm in diameter) extends from the pellicle of the parasite to the host cell. Such structures appear to assist host cell entry by T. gondii. As the entry process progresses, pseudopods of the host cell surround theparasite and finally T gondii becomes intracellular, being located in a vacuole separated from the host cell cytoplasm by a unit membrane. (Am J. Pathol 87:285-296, 1977).