In vitro encystation of Giardia lamblia: large-scale production of in vitro cysts and strain and clone differences in encystation efficiency.

A method for obtaining large numbers of Giardia lamblia cysts in vitro was developed based on modification of earlier methods of in vitro encystation. Maximal numbers of cysts were obtained by growing trophozoites to confluence in TYI-S-33 growth medium containing 0.5 mg/ml of bovine bile, followed by incubation in medium containing 10 mg/ml of bovine bile, at pH 7.8 for 96 h at 37 C. Up to 4 x 10(5) cysts were obtained per milliliter of encystation medium. Cysts thus obtained were similar in structure to those in vivo, were resistant to hypotonic lysis, and reacted with a cyst-specific monoclonal antibody. Further modification of this method by returning the trophozoites to growth medium after 24 hr of exposure to encystation medium resulted in production of cysts that were shown to be viable by fluorogenic dye staining and ability to excyst. This method was scaled up using roller bottles, which resulted in production of up to 1.6 x 10(8) cysts per roller bottle. In addition, of 4 strains tested, the LT strain yielded the highest number of cysts. Of 4 clones of the WB strain, clone A consistently produced the largest number of cysts.