Trichomonas vaginalis: chromatin and mitotic spindle during mitosis

The mitotic phases and the changes that the chromatin and mitotic microtubules undergo during mitosis in the sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis are described. Parasites arrested in the gap 2 phase of the cell cycle by nutrient starvation were induced to mitosis by addition of fresh whole medium. [(3)H] Thymidine labeling of trichomonad parasites for 24 h showed that parasites have at least four synchronic duplications after mitosis induction. Fixed or live and acridine orange (AO)-stained trichomonads analyzed at different times during mitosis by epifluorescence microscopy showed that mitosis took about 45 min and is divided into five stages: prophase, metaphase, early and late anaphase, early and late telophase, and cytokinesis. The AO-stained nucleus of live trichomonads showed green (DNA) and orange (RNA) fluorescence, and the nucleic acid nature was confirmed by DNase and RNase treatment, respectively. The chromatin appeared partially condensed during interphase. At metaphase, it appeared as six condensed chromosomes, as recently reported, which decondensed at anaphase and migrated to the nuclear poles at telophase. In addition, small bundles of microtubules (as hemispindles) were detected only in metaphase with the polyclonal antibody anti-Entamoeba histolytica alpha-tubulin. This antibody showed that the hemispindle and an atractophore-like structure seem to duplicate and polarize during metaphase. In conclusion, T. vaginalis mitosis involves five mitotic phases in which the chromatin undergoes different degrees of condensation, from chromosomes to decondensed chromatin, and two hemispindles that are observed only in the metaphase stage.