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Effects of cyclic nucleotides on midgut infections and maturation of T. b. brucei in G. m. morsitans

Ewan T MacLeod email, Ian Maudlin email and Susan C Welburn email

Centre for Infectious Diseases, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK

author email corresponding author email

Parasites & Vectors 2008, 1:5doi:10.1186/1756-3305-1-5

Published: 14 March 2008

Abstract

Cyclic nucleotide signalling through cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is thought to play an important role in the transformation of the long slender (dividing) form to the short-stumpy (arrested) form in the mammalian bloodstream but the role of cyclic nucleotides in the tsetse-based part of the trypanosome life cycle is unknown. In a series of in vivo experiments, it was found that cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) but not cAMP could induce significantly higher rates of midgut infection in tsetse. Continuous feeding of either cGMP or cAMP to tsetse had no effect on rates of maturation of established midgut infections suggesting that these two parts of the life cycle in tsetse are not linked.


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