PROTOZOA Medically Important Phyla:

General Characteristics: 1. Ciliophora

1. Eukaryotic
2. Unicellular; some, multicellular  body externally ciliated in at least some lifecycle
3. (-) cell wall; *pellicle stages
4. Heterotrophic – phagocytosis  with macro and micronuclei
5. Locomotion: cilia, flagella, pseudopodia
6. Size: 10 – 55 micrometers; *1mm Representative organism
7. Reproduction: Sexual & asexual (binary fission & Balantidium coli
multiple fission)
Defining characteristic: Has 2 contractile vacuoles (rare
Life Cycle of a Typical Protozoan in parasitic protozoa) – unique osmoregulatory capacity
Host: human and other mammals
Natural habitat: Caecum and colon of humans, pigs, rats
and other mammals
Infective stage: Cyst
Transmission: Contaminated food and water (fecal-oral
route)
Infection: asymptomatic
Treatment: tetracycline

B. coli – is the only ciliate known to parasitize humans

 protozoa reproduce asexually: fission, budding,

schizogony
a. Schizogony - multiple fission; the nucleus
undergoes multiple division before the cell
divides

 sexual reproduction: conjugation (e.g. Paramecium)

a. Conjugation - two cells fuse, and a haploid
nucleus from each cell migrates to the other cell
b. Some protozoa produce gametes (gametocytes)
--> fuse --> 2n zygote

Cyst and Oocyst

 Cyst - The cyst is a dormant stage of bacteria or
protozoa which facilitates the survival during
unfavourable environmental conditions.
 Oocyst - Oocyst is a type of thick-walled cell that is
present in the life cycle of protozoa which contains a
zygote within it.
 reproductive cell
 during zygote development, becomes infective
2. Euglenozoa
 with a spiral or crystalline rod inside their flagella
Representative Organisms
a. Hemoflagellates (blood parasites) – large, single
mitochondrion that contains an organized mass of
DNA, the kinetoplast
a.1. Trypanosoma
 African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis)
 Two species:
- Trypanosoma gambiense
- Trypanosoma brucei
 Vector: Tsetse fly
 Parasite  enters the bloodstream and
lymphatic system  crosses BBB
 Tryptophol – chemical produced by
trypanosome that induces sleep
 Treatment: eflornithine (blocks enzyme
required for proliferation)
 Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis)
Trypanosoma cruzi
 Vector: Triatomine bugs (kissing bugs)
 Prevention: Use insecticide
3. Slime molds
a. Cellular
 Dictyostelia
 spend most of their lives as separate single-celled
amoeboid protists
 when food and water supplies are depleted/scarce,
cyclic AMP is release - forms a slug-like colony
 fruiting body
b. Plasmodial
 no cell walls
 exist as thin masses of protoplasm with many
nuclei, called plasmodia
Why are slime molds classified as amoeba and not fungi?
- the most characteristic structure of a slime
mould is a plasmodium -- a giant amoeba with thousands
of nuclei in a single mass of protoplasm. This plasmodium
moves around slowly in decaying organic matter or the
soil, eating - swallowing up or ingesting -- bacteria and
other tiny particles of organic matter.
No true fungus 'eats' in this way. All fungi have to absorb
their food.

a.2 Leishmania (Leishmaniasis)

 found parts of the tropics and subtropics
 Vector: sandfly
 Three types:
1. Visceral (Leishmania donovani)
- invasion of internal organs like liver,
spleen, kidneys
- treatment: Amphotericin B

2. Cutaneous (Leishmania tropica)

- skin lesions
- treatment: Pentamidine

3. Mucocutaneous (Leishmania braziliensis)

- disfiguring destruction of nasal and
oral mucosa
- treatment: Oral miltefosine