Cultivation of bloodstream Trypanosoma brucei

Animal-infective forms of Trypanosoma brucei (Strain 427) were successfully propagated in HEPES-buffered RPMI 1640 medium in the presence of bovine fibroblast-like cells for over 310 days. The organisms grown in this system were morphologically identical to the long slender bloodstream forms, retained their infectivity for mammalian hosts, and displayed variant-antigen on their surface. Technical details for establishing such bloodstream form cultures are described in the present paper.