Growth of Trypanosoma cruzi in Cultures of Chick Embryo Cells, and Effects of Furazolidone and Tris (p‐Aminophenyl)Carbonium Chloride

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Abstract
SYNOPSIS. Monolayers of cells of coverslips were produced by culturing known numbers of trypsinized chick cells in growth medium (solution 199 plus 20% calf serum) at 37 C for 2 days. The fluid was then replaced with maintenance medium (solution 199 plus 5% calf serum) containing various known numbers of T. cruzi and the preparations were incubated at 33 C for 5 days; fresh maintenance medium was substituted on the 2nd or 3rd day. The inocula of parasites were obtained from T. cruzi‐cell cultures, supplemented with 2% sterile NNN overlay, or from NNN cultures.The numbers of extracellular parasites, proportions of infected cells, and percentage distribution of infected cells relative to the number of intracellular leishmanial bodies were determined on days 2 or 3 and 5 of parasite cultivation in many experiments. Analyses of the data gave the following results. Extracellular parasites increased 2‐ to 14‐fold during the first 2 or 3 days, depending upon the source and size of the inocula, and 10‐ to 20‐fold during the last 2 or 3 days. Cell infection continued throughout incubation at daily rates of 1.4‐4.5%; 8‐22% of the cells became infected during the 5 days of incubation. Intracellular growth was reflected most clearly by increases in the proportion of cells having >10 leishmanial bodies. This increase was about 5% daily during the last 2 or 3 days of incubation.A useful test procedure for assessing the antiparasitic action and chick embryo cell toxicity of drugs is illustrated by data obtained with furazolidone and tris (p‐aminophenyl)carbonium chloride.