Investigation of infectivity of neonates and adults from different rat strains to toxoplasma gondii prugniaud shows both variation which correlates with iNOS and Arginase-1 activity and increased susceptibility of neonates to infection

Gao, JM; Yi, SQ; Wu, MS; Geng, GQ; Shen, JL; Lu, FL; Hide, G; Lai, DH; Lun, ZR

Abstract

Mouse models differ considerably fromhumans with regard to clinical symptoms of toxoplasmosis caused
by Toxoplasma gondii and, by comparison, the rat model is more representative of this disease in humans.
In the present study, we found that different strains of adult and newborn rats (Lewis, Wistar, Sprague
Dawley, Brown Norway and Fischer 344) exhibited remarkable variation in the number of brain cysts
following inoculation with the T. gondii Prugniaud strain. In adult rats, large numbers of cysts (1231 ± 165.6)
were observed in Fischer 344, but none in the other four. This situation was different in newborn rats
aged from 5 to 20 days old. All Fischer 344 and Brown Norway newborns were cyst-positive while cystpositive
infection in Sprague Dawley neonates ranged from 54.5% to 60% depending on their age at infection.
In Wistar and Lewis rat neonates, however, cyst-positivity rates of 0–42.9% and 0–25% were found respectively.
To investigate whether rat strain differences in infectivity could be related to inherent strain
and genetic differences in the host immune response, we correlated our data with previously reported
strain differences in iNOS/Arginase ratio in adult rats and found them to be linked. These results show
that interactions between host genetic background and age of rat influence T. gondii infection.

Citation

Gao, J., Yi, S., Wu, M., Geng, G., Shen, J., Lu, F., …Lun, Z. (2015). Investigation of infectivity of neonates and adults from different rat strains to toxoplasma gondii prugniaud shows both variation which correlates with iNOS and Arginase-1 activity and increased susceptibility of neonates to infection. Experimental Parasitology, 149, 47-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exppara.2014.12.008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 15, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Dec 23, 2014
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 3, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Experimental Parasitology
• Print ISSN: 0014-4894
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 149
• Pages: 47-53
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exppara.2014.12.008
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exppara.2014.12.008
• Related Public URLs: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014489414002872
• Additional Information: Funders : National Basic Research Program of China