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Abdelhamid GA, Abdelaal AA, Shalaby MA, Fahmy MEA, Badawi MA, Afife AA, Fadl HO. Type-1 diabetes mellitus down-regulated local cerebral glial fibrillary acidic protein expression in experimental toxoplasmosis. J Parasit Dis 2023; 47:319-328. [PMID: 37193484 PMCID: PMC10182235 DOI: 10.1007/s12639-023-01573-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Cerebral toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infection, occurring mostly in immunosuppressed patients due to the reactivation of latent Toxoplasma cysts. The cerebral comorbidity in diabetic patients tends to intensify the burden of pathogenic infection within the brain. The aim of this work was to study the effect of cerebral toxoplasmosis in experimentally infected hyperglycemic mice, on histopathology and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression, compared to normoglycemic mice at different time intervals. Vasculopathy was exclusively observed in diabetic groups, with features of increased severity during Toxoplasma infection. Gliosis was observed in diabetic groups, while hyperactive astroglial activity was detected in normoglycemic groups, especially at 6 weeks of infection. GFAP expression showed significant up-regulation in normoglycemic mice at 6 weeks of infection (40.03 ± 1.41) afterwards, it decreased to 22.22 ± 3.14 at 12 weeks which was statistically insignificant to the normal level, possibly indicating the successful Toxoplasma stage transformation (to bradyzoite), thereby limiting the infection within the brain. In hyperglycemic infected groups, GFAP was significantly down-regulated, in both acute and chronic phases of infection, most likely indicating failure of stage transformation and infection limitation. This may expose those vulnerable groups to the risk of dissemination, resulting in life-threatening diffuse encephalitis. The current study emphasized the importance of rapid diagnosis of Toxoplasma infection in diabetic subjects, and highlighted the value of using GFAP as a neurological indicator of disease progression in those comorbid cases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amany Ahmed Abdelaal
- Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
- Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Armed Forces College of Medicine, (AFCM), Cairo, Egypt
| | - Maisa Ahmed Shalaby
- Medical Parasitology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI), Giza, Egypt
| | | | | | - Adam Ashraf Afife
- College of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Leicester University, Leicester, UK
| | - Hanaa Omar Fadl
- Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
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Orekhova K, Selmanovic E, De Gasperi R, Gama Sosa MA, Wicinski B, Maloney B, Seifert A, Alipour A, Balchandani P, Gerussi T, Graïc JM, Centelleghe C, Di Guardo G, Mazzariol S, Hof PR. Multimodal Assessment of Bottlenose Dolphin Auditory Nuclei Using 7-Tesla MRI, Immunohistochemistry and Stereology. Vet Sci 2022; 9:vetsci9120692. [PMID: 36548853 PMCID: PMC9781543 DOI: 10.3390/vetsci9120692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The importance of assessing neurochemical processes in the cetacean brain as a tool for monitoring their cognitive health and to indirectly model human neurodegenerative conditions is increasingly evident, although available data are largely semiquantitative. High-resolution MRI for post-mortem brains and stereology allow for quantitative assessments of the cetacean brain. In this study, we scanned two brains of bottlenose dolphins in a 7-Tesla (7T) MR scanner and assessed the connectivity of the inferior colliculi and ventral cochlear nuclei using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Serial thick sections were investigated stereologically in one of the dolphins to generate rigorous quantitative estimates of identifiable cell types according to their morphology and expression of molecular markers, yielding reliable cell counts with most coefficients of error <10%. Fibronectin immunoreactivity in the dolphin resembled the pattern in a human chronic traumatic encephalopathy brain, suggesting that neurochemical compensation for insults such as hypoxia may constitute a noxious response in humans, while being physiological in dolphins. These data contribute to a growing body of knowledge on the morphological and neurochemical properties of the dolphin brain and highlight a stereological and neuroimaging workflow that may enable quantitative and translational assessment of pathological processes in the dolphin brain in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ksenia Orekhova
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova AGRIPOLIS, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Enna Selmanovic
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Rita De Gasperi
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- Research and Development Service, James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New York, NY 10468, USA
| | - Miguel A. Gama Sosa
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- General Medical Research Service, James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New York, NY 10468, USA
| | - Bridget Wicinski
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Brigid Maloney
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Vocal Learning, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Alan Seifert
- Department of Radiology, BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Akbar Alipour
- Department of Radiology, BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Priti Balchandani
- Department of Radiology, BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Tommaso Gerussi
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova AGRIPOLIS, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
| | - Jean-Marie Graïc
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova AGRIPOLIS, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
| | - Cinzia Centelleghe
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova AGRIPOLIS, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
| | - Giovanni Di Guardo
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy
| | - Sandro Mazzariol
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova AGRIPOLIS, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
| | - Patrick R. Hof
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
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Rashidi S, Mansouri R, Ali-Hassanzadeh M, Muro A, Nguewa P, Manzano-Román R. The Defensive Interactions of Prominent Infectious Protozoan Parasites: The Host's Complement System. Biomolecules 2022; 12:1564. [PMID: 36358913 PMCID: PMC9687244 DOI: 10.3390/biom12111564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The complement system exerts crucial functions both in innate immune responses and adaptive humoral immunity. This pivotal system plays a major role dealing with pathogen invasions including protozoan parasites. Different pathogens including parasites have developed sophisticated strategies to defend themselves against complement killing. Some of these strategies include the employment, mimicking or inhibition of host's complement regulatory proteins, leading to complement evasion. Therefore, parasites are proven to use the manipulation of the complement system to assist them during infection and persistence. Herein, we attempt to study the interaction´s mechanisms of some prominent infectious protozoan parasites including Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Trypanosoma, and Leishmania dealing with the complement system. Moreover, several crucial proteins that are expressed, recruited or hijacked by parasites and are involved in the modulation of the host´s complement system are selected and their role for efficient complement killing or lysis evasion is discussed. In addition, parasite's complement regulatory proteins appear as plausible therapeutic and vaccine targets in protozoan parasitic infections. Accordingly, we also suggest some perspectives and insights useful in guiding future investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sajad Rashidi
- Molecular and Medicine Research Center, Khomein University of Medical Sciences, Khomein 38811, Iran
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Khomein University of Medical Sciences, Khomein 38811, Iran
| | - Reza Mansouri
- Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Yazd 8915173143, Iran
| | - Mohammad Ali-Hassanzadeh
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft 7861615765, Iran
| | - Antonio Muro
- Infectious and Tropical Diseases Group (e-INTRO), Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca-Research Center for Tropical Diseases at the University of Salamanca (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
| | - Paul Nguewa
- Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, ISTUN Institute of Tropical Health, IdiSNA (Navarra Institute for Health Research), University of Navarra, C/Irunlarrea 1, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
| | - Raúl Manzano-Román
- Infectious and Tropical Diseases Group (e-INTRO), Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca-Research Center for Tropical Diseases at the University of Salamanca (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
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Soares GLDS, Leão ERLPD, Freitas SF, Alves RMC, Tavares NDP, Costa MVN, Menezes GCD, Oliveira JHPD, Guerreiro LCF, Assis ACLD, Araújo SC, Franco FTDC, Anaissi AKM, Carmo ELD, Morais RDAPB, Demachki S, Diniz JAP, Nunes HM, Anthony DC, Diniz DG, Diniz CWP. Behavioral and Neuropathological Changes After Toxoplasma gondii Ocular Conjunctival Infection in BALB/c Mice. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:812152. [PMID: 35372100 PMCID: PMC8965508 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.812152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Ocular infection with Toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis in mice. However, following ocular infection with tachyzoites, the cause of the accompanying progressive changes in hippocampal-dependent tasks, and their relationship with the morphology and number of microglia, is less well understood. Here, in 6-month-old, female BALB/c mice, 5 μl of a suspension containing 48.5 × 106 tachyzoites/ml was introduced into the conjunctival sac; control received an equal volume of saline. Before and after instillation, all mice were subject to an olfactory discrimination (OD) test, using predator (cat) feces, and to an open-field (OF) task. After the behavioral tests, the animals were culled at either 22 or 44 days post-instillation (dpi), and the brains and retinas were dissected and processed for immunohistochemistry. The total number of Iba-1-immunolabeled microglia in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus was estimated, and three-dimensional reconstructions of the cells were evaluated. Immobility was increased in the infected group at 12, 22, and 43 dpi, but the greatest immobility was observed at 22 dpi and was associated with reduced line crossing in the OF and distance traveled. In the OD test, infected animals spent more time in the compartment with feline fecal material at 14 and at 43 dpi. No OD changes were observed in the control group. The number of microglia was increased at 22 dpi but returned to control levels by 44 dpi. These changes were associated with the differentiation of T. gondii tachyzoites into bradyzoite-enclosed cysts within the brain and retina. Thus, infection of mice with T. gondii alters exploratory behavior, gives rise to a loss in predator’s odor avoidance from 2 weeks after infection, increased microglia number, and altered their morphology in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus.
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