RESUMO
Three clones isolated from the Y strain of Trypanosoma cruzi--YP1, YP2 and YP3--were adapted to in vitro cultivation in VERO cells. The recovery of the parasites from the Y strain and clone YP3 was similar after 24 hr of contact with cells (3.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent , respectively) and much lower than the recovery of clones YP1 and YP2 (56.7 per cent and 60.0 per cent of inoculum, respectively). After five days incubation, the ratio Trypomastigotes/Amastigotes released into the supernatants was about 90/10 for clone YP1, YP3 and Y strain, and 50/50 for clone YP2. After nine days, the ratio was 62/38 for clone YP1, 97/3 for clone YP3, 81/19 for Y strain and 50/50 for clone YP2. The susceptibility of tissue culture derived trypomastigotes (TCT) to lysis in the presence of chronic chagasic human sera and human complement was assessed using Complement Mediated Lysis reaction (CML). Trypomastigotes from clone YP2 were consistently less susceptible to CML ( per cent lysis less than 20), than parasites from the other clones and Y strain. Parasites of clone YP3 had susceptibility to CML comparable to that of the Y strain (about 70 per cent ), while TCT of clone YP1 had intermediary susceptibility (40 per cent )