Development of Blastocrithidia triatomae (Trypanosomatidae) in Triatoma infestans after vitamin B-supplementation of the blood-diet of the bug

Abstract

Investigations of the interrelationships of the trypanosomatid Blastocrithidia triatomae and the reduviid bug Triatoma infestans indicated an interference of B. triatomae with bug symbionts or with their vitamin supply. For an initial study of this possibility, B. triatomae-infected bugs were fed two or three times at monthly intervals on defibrinated sheep blood with or without B-group vitamin supplementation (folic acid, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamin). The total number of flagellates in the small intestine and the rectum of the bug were then determined with a hemocytometer. Vitamin B-supplementation supported the initial development of B. triatomae in the small intestine of most third and fourth instar larvae which had been infected in the first instar. In the small intestines of fifth instars and adults, both which had been infected as third instar larvae, most populations of B. triatomae were not affected by vitamin B-supplementation. Similarly, rectal populations in all bugs were never increased by supplementation.