Arginine metabolism in Trypanosoma cruzi is coupled to parasite stage and replication.

PEREIRA, CLAUDIO; ALONSO, GUILLERMO; IVALDI, SOLEDAD; SILBER, ARIEL; ALVES, M; BOUVIER, LEÓN ALBERTO; FLAWIA, MIRTHA; TORRES, HECTOR

Caxambú, Brazil

Congreso; XXIX Annual Meeting in Basic Research in Chagas Disease. XVIII, Annual Meeting of The Brazilian Society of Protozoology; 2002

L-arginine plays an essential role in the energetic metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi. In this work we propose a relationship between L-arginine uptake, arginine kinase activity and the parasite replication ability. In epimastigote cultures L-arginine uptake decreases continuously accompanying a cell replication rate reduction. The use of conditioned or fresh media mimics uptake variations. Interestingly, in non-replicative trypomastigote cells, L-arginine uptake was undetectable. The association between L-arginine uptake and cell replication was demonstrated using the antimitotic agent hidroxyurea. Arginine kinase, the enzymes responsible for phosphoarginine and ATP synthesis, also shows a differential activity in epimatigote and trypomastigote parasite stages.