Figure 2.

Autophagy is induced during T. cruzi infection. CHO cells overexpressing GFP-LC3 were infected with tissue culture trypomastigotes (TCT) of T. cruzi Y strain (MOI = 50) during 3 h. After fixation, cells were washed, mounted in mowiol and analyzed by confocal microscopy. (a) Control (non-infected) cells depicting the homogeneous distribution of GFP-LC3 in the soluble form. (b) Infected cell displaying numerous autophagic vacuoles and tubules (arrows) decorated with membrane-associated GFP-LC3. Note the recruitment of this protein in the membrane of the T. cruzi parasitophorous vacuole (asterisks) that were recognized by the typical form of trypomastigotes. (c) Percentage of cells containing more than 5 LC3-positive vesicles/cell and at least one tubule/cell at the indicated conditions. Rapamycin (50 ng/μl) were incubated for 2 h in control conditions. Scale bar: 5 μm. Data shown represent the mean ± SE from 3 independent experiments. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001 (Student´s t-test).