Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a major public health problem in Latin
America, where it constitutes one of the largest parasitic disease burdens. Specific treatment of …

Recent work has shown that acidocalcisomes, which are electron-dense acidic organelles
rich in calcium and polyphosphate, are the only organelles that have been conserved during …

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) has been identified and measured in human platelets.
Millimolar levels (in terms of P i residues) of short chain polyP were found. The presence of …

Changes in cytosolic calcium concentration are crucial for a variety of cellular processes in
all cells. It has long been appreciated that calcium is stored and released from intracellular …

Acidocalcisomes are acidic calcium storage compartments described in several unicellular
eukaryotes, including trypanosomatid and apicomplexan parasites, algae, and slime molds. …

Inorganic polyphosphate is an abundant component of acidocalcisomes of bacteria and
unicellular eukaryotes. Human platelet dense granules strongly resemble acidocalcisomes, and …

We have investigated the effects in vitro of a series of bisphosphonates on the proliferation of
Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, Leishmania donovani, Toxoplasma …

Over the last few years a remarkable progress has been made in the understanding of
parasites biochemistry, molecular biology, and immunology. This progress is especially …

The use of digitonin to permeabilize the plasma membrane of Trypanosoma cruzi allowed
the identification of a non-mitochondrial nigericin- or bafilomycin A1-sensitive Ca(2+)-uptake …

To replicate, the trypomastigote form of Trypanosoma cruzi must invade host cells. Since a
role for Ca2+ in the process of cell invasion by several intracellular parasites has been …