Evidence of chemotaxis by quantitative measurement of the force vectors of Trypanossoma cruzi in the vicinity of the Rhodnius prolixus midgut wall cell

A. A. de Thomaz; D. B. Almeida; A. Fontes; C. V. Stahl; J. R. Santos-Mallet; S. A. O. Gomes; D. Feder; C. L. Cesar

doi:10.1117/12.826314

20 August 2009 Evidence of chemotaxis by quantitative measurement of the force vectors of Trypanossoma cruzi in the vicinity of the Rhodnius prolixus midgut wall cell

A. A. de Thomaz, D. B. Almeida, A. Fontes, C. V. Stahl, J. R. Santos-Mallet, S. A. O. Gomes, D. Feder, C. L. Cesar

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7400, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI; 740009 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826314
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

In this work we used a methodology to study chemotaxis of Trypanossoma cruzi (T. Cruzi) in real time using an Optical Tweezers system. Trapped beads were used as a force transducer for measuring forces of the same order of magnitude as typical forces induced by flagellar motion. Optical Tweezers allowed real time measurements of the force vectors, strength and direction, of living parasites under chemical or other kinds of gradients. This seems to be the ideal tool to perform observations of taxis response of cells and microorganisms with high sensitivity to capture instantaneous responses to a given stimulus. We applied this methodology to investigate the T. cruzi under distinct situations: the parasite alone and in the presence of its insect-vector Rhodnius prolixus (R. prolixus).

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A. A. de Thomaz, D. B. Almeida, A. Fontes, C. V. Stahl, J. R. Santos-Mallet, S. A. O. Gomes, D. Feder, and C. L. Cesar "Evidence of chemotaxis by quantitative measurement of the force vectors of Trypanossoma cruzi in the vicinity of the Rhodnius prolixus midgut wall cell", Proc. SPIE 7400, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VI, 740009 (20 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826314

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