ABSTRACT
Three human strains of Leishmania, one visceral and two cutaneous leishmaniasis, were prepared from both culture and tissue of infected animals and subjected to analysis by computerized image analyzer system. The results showed differences in the morphology and nucleic acid contents of the three strains
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Leishmania tropica/ultrastructure , Leishmania donovani/ultrastructure , Leishmaniasis/diagnosis , Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/diagnosis , Leishmaniasis, Visceral/diagnosis , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Leishmania major/ultrastructureABSTRACT
Three Leishmania strains of the old world were included in this study. Both the amastigote and promastigote stages were subjected to staining by Feulgen procedure and examined by computerized image analyzer 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 populations of parasite nuclei, one with low level of DNA resembling that of the promastigote and a second population with double DNA level. The latter is formed when apparently two nuclei fused and form one with double DNA level. The data obtained in the present study indicated that Leishmania of the old world can undergo nuclear fusion, which is a strong evidence for the presence of sexual reproduction in the parasite