Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 32: Posters: Physics of Cells
BP 32.45: Poster
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 17:15–20:00, Poster B1
Mechanisms of Parasitic Cell Motility in Blood Flow and Possible Impact on Host Infection — •Sravanti Uppaluri1, Eric Stellamanns1, Niko Heddergott2, Stephan Herminghaus1, Markus Engstler2, and Thomas Pfohl1,3 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization, Göttingen — 2Biocenter, University of Würzburg — 3Chemistry Department, University of Basel
African trypanosomes, parasites responsible for devastating disease in sub-Saharan Africa, are found in the mammalian bloodstream and penetrate the central nervous system during late stages of African Sleeping Sickness. Trypanosomes are able to make their way past the tightly protected blood brain barrier despite significantly high blood flow velocities in vessels around the brain. We find that the parasite is able to swim closer to vessel walls with increasing blood flow velocities. Typical vessels have a cell free layer near the channel walls, we mimic this phenomenon using microfluidic techniques and investigate the trypanosome's ability to make turns at relatively high flow velocities and invade through confining gaps. Gradient based microfluidics is exploited to test if the turning frequency is enhanced by chemical attractants. Lastly, we find that cell orientation is velocity dependent. Together our results point to strong hydrodynamical effects on swimming behavior of trypanosomes which may play an important role in different stages of infection.