Identification of plasmenylethanolamine as a major component of the phospholipids of strain DM 28c of Trypanosoma cruzi

A novel phospholipid has been purified from strain Dm 28c of Trypanosoma cr uzi, and characterized by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and nucle ar magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a plasmenylethanolamine with a hexade c-1-enyl group in the sn-1 position and an approximately equimolar mixture of octadecenoate and octadecadienoate esterified to the sn-2 hydroxyl. The purified plasmenylethanolamine reacted positively when probed with sera fro m patients with chronic Chagas' disease. Since plasmenylethanolamines of si milar structure are abundant in mammalian cardiac and neuronal tissues, cro ss reactions between these epitopes may be a factor in the mechanism of aut oimmune pathology in the chronic phase of Chagas' disease. (C) 1999 Publish ed by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.