Growth of trypanosomes in vivo, host body weight gains, and food consumption in zinc-deficient mice.

This study examined the effect of zinc deficiency on food consumption and the growth of mice infected with Trypanosoma musculi or immunized with parasite products. In addition, the effects of zinc deficiency on the growth and development of parasites in vivo was studied. Infected mice consumed more food than noninfected mice, and the level of food consumption in the zinc-deficient mice was much less and showed general decline during the observation period. Also, infected mice on both full-complement and zinc-deficient diets gained more body weight than control mice. Throughout the observational period, trypanosomes from zinc-deficient mice showed considerably higher variability in size as determined by coefficient of variation. In both dietary groups, the average length of trypanosomes was not significantly different.