Simultaneous presence of different antigenic populations of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in Microtus montanus

Abstract

Trypanosomes were isolated before and after the formation of infected detectable antibody from various brain sites and the blood of Microtus montanus. All isolates were serotyped by the agglutination reaction, and the isolates obtained prior to antibody formation were serologically identical to the original inoculum. Later isolates obtained from separate sites of an infected animal were serologically different from the original inoculum and also from each other. It was therefore concluded that in a single chronically infected animal there are numerous different antigenic populations of trypanosomes each occupying separate brain sites. A hypothesis to account for this antigenic diversity is given.