Youssef M Y, Eissa M M, el Mansoury S T
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt.
J Egypt Soc Parasitol. 1997 Dec;27(3):651-7.
Three Leishmania strains of the old world were the subject of this study. Both the amastigote and promastigote stages were subjected to staining by Feulgen procedure and examined by computerized image analyser system to determine their nuclear DNA content. Results of this study showed that, in the promastigote stage there is a single cell population, whereas in the amastigote stage there are two population of parasite nuclei. One with low level of DNA resembling that of the promastigote and a second population with double DNA level. This latter formed when apparently 2 nuclei fused and form one with double DNA level. The data obtained in the present study further indicate that Leishmania of the old world can undergo nuclear fusion which is a strong evidence for the presence of sexual reproduction in the parasite.
本研究以三种旧大陆利什曼原虫菌株为研究对象。将无鞭毛体和前鞭毛体阶段均采用福尔根染色法进行染色，并通过计算机图像分析系统进行检测，以确定其核DNA含量。本研究结果表明，在前鞭毛体阶段存在单一细胞群体，而在无鞭毛体阶段存在两类寄生虫核群体。一类DNA水平较低，类似于前鞭毛体；另一类DNA水平为两倍。后者显然是由2个细胞核融合形成一个具有两倍DNA水平的细胞核时形成的。本研究获得的数据进一步表明，旧大陆利什曼原虫可发生核融合，这是该寄生虫存在有性生殖的有力证据。
