1962 Volume 14 Issue 1-2 Pages 794-797
The sloped beef extract blood agar (3 cc of N. N. media and 1 cc of defibrinated rabbit's blood), added with 0.3% saline solution up to the middle of the slant, is a most suitable culture medium for the frog trypanosome. It is necessary to shut off the light, because of its obstructive effect on the multication of the trypanosome. Few days after the inoculation, the frog trypanosomes grow in the liquid part of the medium, making a thin pericle on the surface or white sediment at the bottom of the liquid part.
Different from the characteristic forms of this trypanosome in the frog's blood stream, a few crithidial forms, a number of leptomonad forms can be observed in the artificial media. Microscopically some of them are swimming freely and others gather together making beautiful resettes, big or small.
The rabbit's antiseum for the frog trypanosome shows positive precipitin reaction and complement fixation test with the extract of this parasite.
Rieckenberg's reaction between the frog trypasome and corresponding rabbit's antiserum is markedly postive, but there is no group reaction in case of T. gambiense. The antibody for the frog trypanosome is also demonstrated in the normal serum of man and rabbit. When the trypaosomes, which liberated the thrombocytes of Rieckenberg's reaction, are washed in saline solution and put into the new medium, they show the recovery of their reactivity for Rieckenberg's reaction in 48 hours.
