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Giardia lamblia is an intestinal protozoan parasite, with two forms: the motile trophozoite, and the non-motile infective cyst (Alharbi, et al., 2020) . The parasite's cytoskeleton is made of small microtubules, which are the building blocks of the structural bodies, such as the flagella and median bodies .
Taylor-Leigh Siebritz
The common trophozoite morphology:
The common trophozoite morphology:
12-15 um in length
broadened anterior and a tapered caudal end, or pear-shaped
ventral disc forms spiral shape on anterior; median body dorsal to the disc
two nuclei and four paired flagella (anterior, posterolateral, caudal and ventral) (Alharbi, et al., 2020)
Figure 2: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of G. lamblia trophozoite.
(A, left): Dorsal view, showing flagella pairs and ventrolateral flange (arrow) that surrounds cell.
(B, right): Ventral view, showing spiral of the ventral disc (D) and bare area (BA). (Gadelha, et al., 2020)
The common cyst morphology:
The common cyst morphology:
8-12 um (length), in a round or oval shape.
four nuclei, with basal bodies between the nuclei; internalised flagella
fragmented ventral disc; no visible median bodies (Alharbi, et al., 2020)
Figure 3: Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) Microscopy of Giardia duodenalis; in a wet mount. Note the lack of flagella (Centre for Disease Control & Prevention, CDCDPDx, 2023).
Other unique feats of Giardia lamblia:
Other unique feats of Giardia lamblia:
flagella in a 9+2 microtubule arrangement.
unique actin filament arrangement that more closely resembles higher eukaryotes (Fava, et al., 2023).
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