The surface charge of L-A9 cells and Aedes albopictus cells infected with Marituba (Bunyaviridae) virus

Cellular electrophoretic mobility data: a first approach to a database

Cellular electrophoretic mobility values of 288 types of eucaryotic cells were collected from literature published worldwide by a series of authors during the past forty years and arranged in a list. This list contains well-known recent electrophoretic results and also data that cannot be found anymore with modern literature retrieval systems. It will be a valuable help for scientists trying to purify cell populations. In addition, it confirms the observation that most eucaryotic cells have very similar electrophoretic mobilities, ranging from 40% above to 50% below the electrophoretic mobility of human erythrocytes, and thus reinforces the suggestion that electrophoretic mobilities of eucaryotic cells are subjected to strong biological controls.

Alterations in the surface charge of heart muscle cells during interaction with Trypanosoma cruzi

The surface charge of heart muscle cells (HMC) and Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes was estimated during their interaction by means of zeta potential (ZP). Metacyclic and bloodstream trypomastigote, but not amastigote forms, are able to decrease the surface charge of HMC as well as other nonphagocytic cells. However, no alteration could be detected on T. cruzi-infected macrophage cell line. Trypomastigote forms collected from the supernatant after 20 h of contact with HMC also have their ZP value decreased. The analysis of the surface components of both the parasite and HMC involved in such interaction was also carried out. Assays concerning the kinetics of the cell-parasite interaction demonstrated the influence of parasite surface anionogenicity during its interaction with HMC. The binding of bloodstream forms to HMC was enhanced after their incubation with cationized ferritin (CF), whereas phospholipase C and neuraminidase treatments improved and trypsin treatment inhibited parasite uptake in HMC. Conversely, the incubation of HMC with phospholipase C impaired, and with trypsin enhanced, the interiorization of the parasites. These results suggest that trypomastigote forms of T. cruzi may process the surface of HMC and its own surface either by removing molecules or by exposing ligands for their internalization.