Comparative electron microscope studies on the labelling Leishmania donovani, Leishmania tropica and Leishmania braziliensis with ferritin (author's transl)]

The labelling of negative charges on the cell surface of the developing promastigote forms in Leishmania donovani, L. tropica and L. braziliensis was determined using cationized ferritin and electron microscopy. Ferritin deposits were seen exclusively on the pellicle, since they cannot penetrate the cell membrane. The ferritin particles were distributed in regular rows covering the whole cell surface. The mean diameter of the particles was 8.76 nm and at a magnification of 104.000 an average of 9.8 particles was detected on 1 cm cell surface. Only in the membrane of the proximal part of the reservoir labelling was frequently absent. The possible explanations for this observation were discussed. There was no difference in the pattern size of the ferritin particles or in their number per cm cell surface among the various strains of L. donovani on the one hand or between L. donovani, L. tropica and L. braziliensis on the other.