Kinetics of glucose (Glc) consumption and extracellular pH of epimastigotes treated with heme.

T. cruzi epimastigotes were incubated with or without 30 μM heme in low (6.6 mM) or high (12 mM) Glc medium at 28°C for 5, 7, or 10 days. (A) Glc concentration was measured from parasite supernatants at each day of culture. (B) Glc consumption was obtained by subtracting Glc concentration found in epimastigotes supernatants from day 0 culture medium and normalized by the cell number. (C) Percentage of intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels of epimastigotes cultured with or without 30 μM heme, 20 mM 2-deoxy-glucose (2-DG) in low (6.6 mM) or high (12 mM) Glc medium for 10 days and (D) extracellular pH of these parasites. The results are the mean ± standard error of at least three independent experiments. *p <0.05 compared to control group; #p<0.05 compared to 30 μM heme group; • p<0.05 compared to high Glc group; analyzed by Tukey’s test or Student’s t-test. nd: not detected.