Toxoplasma gondii infects all warm-blooded animals and is associated with specific behavioural and neurological alterations in both rodents and people. To find out how this intracellular parasite alters brain function, Dunay et al. have been investigating the pathological changes in different brain regions of mice chronically infected with T. gondii. The researchers report that local connectivity is impaired in these mice, particularly within somatosensory regions. These changes are paralleled by reduced expression of two cytoskeletal proteins in the somatosensory cortex and hippocampus, and reduced dendritic complexity in non-infected neurons from these brain areas in infected mice. Finally, the expression of proteins that regulate key synaptic functions is modified in the same brain regions. These results indicate that T. gondii infection induces marked neuroanatomical changes in brain regions that control normal behaviour and establish a murine model for translational studies of chronic toxoplasmosis. Page 459
Toxoplasmosis and neuronal changes in mice
Toxoplasmosis and neuronal changes in mice. Dis Model Mech 1 April 2014; 7 (4): e0403. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for Papers – Infectious Disease: Evolution, Mechanisms and Global Health
Showcase your latest research on our upcoming Special Issue: Infectious Disease: Evolution, Mechanisms and Global Health. This issue will be coordinated by DMM Editors Sumana Sanyal and David Tobin alongside Guest Editors Judi Allen and Russell Vance. The deadline for submitting articles to this Special Issue is Monday 20 January 2025.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025
We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance on 26 March 2025. Find out more and register to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
New Special Issue: Translating Multiscale Research in Rare Disease. Edited by Monica Justice, Monkol Lek, Karen Liu and Kate Rauen.
This special issue features original Research, Resources & Methods and Review-type articles that aim to interrogate the mechanisms of rare diseases to foster meaningful clinical progress in their diagnosis and treatment.
The role of the International Society for Stem Cell Research guidelines in disease modelling
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) provides comprehensive guidelines and standards for using human stem cells in biomedical research. In this Editorial, Cody Juguilon and Joseph Wu discuss how and why these should be incorporated in disease modelling research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.
Other journals from
The Company of Biologists