Toxoplasma gondii alters NMDAR signaling and induces signs of Alzheimer's disease in wild-type, C57BL/6 mice

Journal of Neuroinflammation
Luisa TorresMargaret S Bynoe

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with cognitive decline and complete loss of basic functions. The ubiquitous apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infects up to one third of the world's population and is implicated in AD. We infected C57BL/6 wild-type male and female mice with 10 T. gondii ME49 cysts and assessed whether infection led to behavioral and anatomical effects using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, Western blotting, cell culture assays, as well as an array of mouse behavior tests. We show that T. gondii infection induced two major hallmarks of AD in the brains of C57BL/6 male and female mice: beta-amyloid (Aβ) immunoreactivity and hyperphosphorylated Tau. Infected mice showed significant neuronal death, loss of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) expression, and loss of olfactory sensory neurons. T. gondii infection also caused anxiety-like behavior, altered recognition of social novelty, altered spatial memory, and reduced olfactory sensitivity. This last finding was exclusive to male mice, as infected females showed intact olfactory sensitivity. These results demonstrate that T. gondii can induce advanced signs of AD in wild-type mice and that i...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 19, 2019·Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy·Ruben R Ben-Harari
Jun 18, 2020·Brain Sciences·Gloria Ortiz-GuerreroMauricio O Nava-Mesa
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Nov 13, 2020·Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology·Debanjan MukhopadhyayJeroen P J Saeij
Jun 19, 2021·Heliyon·Tooran NayeriAhmad Daryani

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
transgenic

Software Mentioned

Topscan
GraphPad Prism
Zen Digital Imaging
Axiovision
ImageJ
image J

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