The unicellular organism Trypanosoma cruzi is an eukaryote whose cell cycle
mainly occurs under darkness in the insect gut. The unique external phase
corresponds to the metacyclic forms, the forms that are able to infect huma
ns, which appear within the insect deyections. Thus, light may be a powerfu
l stressor in this unicell. Epimastigote forms (the parasite forms that gro
w and transform to metacyclic forms in the insect gut) of Trypanosoma cruzi
grow normally when cultured in a LD cycle of 0:24 hr, reaching exponential
growth by the 7th day. A pulse of 2 hr of light (LD 2:22) was enough to bl
ock the growth of the epimastigotes, an effect that was correlated with the
expression of heat-shock proteins during the first 120 min of light exposu
re. Thereafter, protein synthesis decreased. Light exposure of metacyclic,
forms also inhibits the parasitization ability. It is known that light regu
lates the production of melatonin in most animal species studied, including
other unicells such as dinoflagellates. T. cruzi contains and synthesizes
melatonin and, thus, light-mediated events on the parasite biological cycle
could be mediated by light-induced changes in melatonin produced by this u
nicell. Epimastigotes cultured under continuous darkness produce melatonin
over the 24 hr period in a biphasic manner. Coinciding with the melatonin p
eaks, there was high melatonin efflux from the parasite into the medium. Ep
imastigotes cultured for 7 days under a LD cycle of 2:22 hr showed a 55% re
duction in melatonin content, although this reduction seems not to be relat
ed with the growth delay: In fact, incubation of epimastigotes with exogeno
us melatonin (1 pM) did not affect parasite growth, but significantly reduc
ed their transformation into metacyclic forms by the 7-8th day of treatment
. Thus, the light-dependent decrease in melatonin production by the unicell
may be responsible, at least partially, for the light-induce parasitizatio
n inhibition. Moreover, melatonin production is highest in the metacyclic f
orms. These data support a link between light, melatonin production and par
asitization ability of T. cruzi and suggest the participation of the indole
amine in its biological cycle.