Early course of infection in susceptible and resistant strains of mice, using [3H]uridine-labeled Trypanosoma brucei subsp. brucei.

A radioisotopic technique utilizing [3H]uridine was developed to determine the tissue distribution of intravenously inoculated Trypanosoma brucei spp. brucei in susceptible (Swiss-Webster) and resistant (deer) strains of mice. The reliability of the technique was tested by using unincorporated [3H]uridine and heat-killed (labeled) trypanosomes in parallel experiments. The inoculations with viable (labeled) organisms showed that during the initial 24 h T. brucei subsp. brucei was cleared from the bloodstream of deer mice to a significantly greater extent than in Swiss-Webster mice. In addition, significantly more radioactivity was found in the liver, spleen, and kidneys of the deer mice. Autoradiographs of trypanosomes in selected tissues supported the distribution observed with labeled organisms. All of the above experiments involved the highly virulent, monomorphic bloodstream form of T. brucei subsp. brucei. Similar experiments with less virulent tissue culture-adapted trypanosomes showed that these organisms were readily cleared from the bloodstream, even in highly susceptible Swiss-Webster mice. The results suggest that avoidance of phagocytosis may be an important virulence factor of T. brucei subsp. brucei and contributes to the variation observed in species and strain susceptible to trypanosomiasis.